


Stiles Stilinski and the Werewolf Conundrum

by Winterbells



Series: Teen Wolf Harry Potter AU [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, But I tried to make him an ok guy, But it's an au, Eventual Sterek but rn their 11/12, F/M, I really don't like Scott, I think he's a dick, I tried to stick to canon as much as possible, I will stick by my house choices, M/M, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Sheriff actually works for Scotland Yard, set in England, stiles/lydia/cora friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:07:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23724313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterbells/pseuds/Winterbells
Summary: It's the Teen Wolf/Harry Potter AU no one asked for but I wrote anyways.To say Stiles and his father, John, were shocked when an elegant but aged woman arrived on their doorstep the morning of Stiles’ eleventh birthday announcing his admittance to a school they had never even heard of before, proclaiming he was some kind of wizard was an understatement to say the least.
Relationships: Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore
Series: Teen Wolf Harry Potter AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1708816
Comments: 21
Kudos: 77





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm stuck in quarantine and honestly I just reread the whole Harry Potter series and I remembered my High School obsession with Teen Wolf and now this is the result.  
> I'll try to add a chapter at least once a week, but i'm still doing online courses so that might be a challenge later on. BTW I'm learning to draw on procreate so i might add an image or two of stuff related to the chapter but like i'm not actually good, so like please don't judge my drawings  
> I really hope you enjoy.  
> (English isn't my first language and I don't really have a beta so I apologise for any mistakes)

To say Stiles and his father, John, were shocked when an elegant but aged woman arrived on their doorstep the morning of Stiles’ eleventh birthday announcing his admittance to a school they had never even heard of before, proclaiming he was some kind of wizard was an understatement to say the least.

“Mr. Stilinski I assure you this is no sort of prank, your son is indeed magical and it is of the utmost importance that he learn to wield his magic in a safe and educational environment” the woman, Professor McGonagall told John. 

Somehow the pointed hat and stern look on her face told John that this was most definitely not a joke but he was still struggling to wrap his head around it. Stiles on the other had looked nothing short of elated. His mouth grinning from ear to ear and his excitement combined with his recently diagnosed ADHD did not give John much hope that the rest of the day would be quiet enough to allow him to ponder the implications of sending his eleven year old to some magic school in the middle of Scotland.

“If it provides you any solace, Mr. Mccall will be attending Hogwarts as well, so your son won’t be alone. Rest assured Mr. Stilinski there is no finer school than Hogwarts.” And there went any opportunity he had to defer his admittance if only by a year. He should’ve - wait. What?

“Did you just say McCall? As in Scott McCall? Melissa McCall’s son? He’s like Stiles? A muffle-born?” Back up a second, he wasn’t alone, Stiles wasn’t alone, maybe the four of them would be able to get through this together. He felt a like a weight had been lifted off of his chest.

“Not precisely, Mr. McCall’s father was a wizard, Mrs. McCall is a _muggle_ just like yourself, but they’ve known that Mr. McCall would be attending Hogwarts since his infancy.” Professor McGonagall explained patiently. She continued answering any and all questioned that John and Stiles asked, until their heads were swimming with information that neither of them had even thought possible before.Professor McGonagall left shortly after that placing an envelope addressed to Stiles and a heavy book titled _Hogwarts: A History_. “We expect your reply by July 31st at the latest” And with that she suddenly disappeared. 

John thought about calling Melissa and demanding she came over right away, but she and Scott were already coming over later in the day to celebrate Stile’s birthday like they did each year. Besides, he had no right to demand anything, even if Melissa had tried to tell him, he probably would not have believed her. Magic, his kid was magic, or had magic, he hadn’t completely wrapped his head around it yet. 

“Dad, daddy, father, you gotta let me go, I have magic dad, real magic, pleeeeeease” he begged drawing out the e and giving him his best puppy eyes. In all honesty, Scott had the best puppy eyes but Stiles had learned to master them with almost equal power. 

“Stiles, kid, we have to have a serious talk about this. But yes, we can’t keep letting you grow your hair in one day, or setting the Brussel sprouts on fire because you don’t like them” John had to admit, however much it hurt, sending his kid to learn to use his magic in a school designed for kids like him was a much better idea then trying to figure out how on earth the Aunt Alicja’s Brussel sprouts set on fire whilst on the kitchen table just as six year old Stiles was having a tantrum about not wanting to eat them. He remembered Claudia trying desperately to calm Stiles down while throwing a dish towel at the flaming mess, the only thing accomplished was an even bigger fire, as now both the pot and towel were on fire. Claudia was accused of trying to ruin Christmas and the situation was far worsened when John refused to take his sisters’s side and defended Claudia. They ended up leaving and John watched Stiles while Claudia made spaghetti with little sausages cut into it. The three of them ate Christmas dinner huddled up around the fireplace, with Stile’s laughter filling up the cold room. It was John’s favourite Christmas. 

He barely had time to gather his thoughts before Stiles was bouncing up the stairs with various expressions of delight. 

-

Scott would be arriving any second now and Stiles was over the moon excited. They had planned an amazing summer together before Scott was shipped of to boarding school in some distant part of Scotland, but now Stiles _knew_ , he wasn’t going to some regular secondary school, he was going to _magic school_. Some small part of him was hurt that Scott hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him, but the rational part of his brain told him it was for the best. However, now they didn’t have to worry about it because they would be going to school together.

Stiles wasn’t sure how to tell his best friend this new found information, so he thought it would be best if he let Scott figure it out himself. He carefully placed his admissions letter on the table, hoping that Scott would see the envelope, realise what it meant and they could celebrate together. He wondered how much Scott knew about Hogwarts, Stiles had only just started reading the book Professor McGonagall suggested, but with just the few pages he read, he knew his life had just been radically transformed.

“Dad, are you going to be ok if I leave?” Stiles asked softly, he had been so excited about his new found magic that he forgot that if he left his father would be alone. John stopped what he was doing to look at his son. He motioned for Stiles to sit down on the chair and kneeled so he could be at eye level with him.

“Son, I want you to be happy, that has always been the most important thing to me. I will be fine, I promise, and I will write to you often.” He chuckled a bit and held his son’s hand. “If it makes you feel better, Melissa is just down the road and she’s going to be alone too, so we can keep each other company and worry about you and Scott, just promise me Stiles that you boys will try and keep out of trouble?” Stiles nodded enthusiastically and threw himself into his father’s arm. John stood up still hugging Stiles, he was getting a little too big to be carried and soon he wouldn’t be able to, but John was going to keep hugging his son until he couldn’t anymore.

A few moments later, the front door opened and John put Stiles down in time for a blur of brown hair that was suddenly racing towards him to hug Stiles so hard they almost toppled over. Melissa walked in with a big smile on her face and an even bigger cake on her hands. The triple chocolate, three tier cake was tradition for the boys’s birthdays. She gently placed in on the table and turned to talk to John when she spotted the envelope from the corner of her eyes, she gingerly picked it up and flipped it over to look at the familiar logo and broken red seal.

“John, where - where did you get this?” She asked not looking up from the envelope, hardly believing her eyes. Stiles on the other hand had the biggest smile on his face, which conflicted with his almost nonchalant tone, “oh Professor McGonagall dropped it off this morning, turns out we’re going to Hogwarts together Scotty.” It took a full second for Scott to register what was happening before Sties was hit with a flurry of _omg, are you serious, omg, you’re a wizard too_ and the most enthusiastic hug that definitely tipped them over and sent them crashing to the floor below.

Behind them John had a look of mild amusement while Melissa just stared at him in awe. “You are taking this extremely better than I did when I found out,” Melissa told him. 

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m still in shock, I don’t think I’ve fully wrapped my head around the whole magic thing, but I was hoping we might be able to talk, and I don’t know explain somethings?” John told her but the rest of the conversation was lost to Stiles, as he and Scott went running out side to play.

The rest of Stiles birthday was spent planning and discussing what an amazing time they were going to have together. _I’m going to be in Gryffindor, just like Harry Potter_ Scott declared which prompted Stiles to ask who that was and Scott rambled on for hours explaining about the great Wizarding Wars and the defeat of the Dark Lord that had taken place at the very same school the would be attending in a few months. Before his departure, Scott’s dad had left some books and a diary he had kept during the Wizarding War and his part in it as well as his time at Hogwarts.

“But wait, what’s a Gryffindor? You mentioned Harry Potter was one earlier.” Stiles asked him in the middle of the night while they were supposed to be asleep in Stile’s bed. Scott turned around to face him, neither of them remotely tired enough to sleep. The excitement of the day and the promise of a future together was enough for them to stay awake for ever, or maybe a few more hours until sleep finally claimed them.

“Well, Hogwarts is divided into four houses, Gryffindor is the best, it’s were all the brave wizards are, the heroes. Then there’s Ravenclaw, that’s for the nerds, I heard that they’re stuck up and look down on dumb people. Then there’s Hufflepuff, it’s were they put everyone who doesn’t fit, all the weird ones. And Slytherin, that’s were all the bad wizards go, you really don’t want to end up there.” Scott told him seriously. 

“What if I don’t end up in Gryffindor with you? What if I end up in Slytherin?” Stiles asked with a small voice. He didn’t want to end up with the evil wizards, he wasn’t evil, was he? A small voice in his head started thinking about his mum’s death, but he quashed it without giving it a chance to even start.

“You could never be in Slytherin, you’re the bravest person I know” Scott told him and tugged him in for a hug. “What ever happens we’ll always be friends,” he whispered. That’s how they fell asleep, wrapped in each others arms.

-

Summer had come and gone and the beginning of Autumn was marked with the fall of the first leaves, the once colourful scenery was now a mixture of red, orange and brown. It was only a few days until the boys were going to be heading to Hogwarts, Melissa and John had decided it would be best to do the school shopping for both boys at the same time. In all honesty they didn’t really have a choice but Sitles and Scott liked to make them think that they did. They headed down to London and decided to stay in a hotel the week before school so that they would be able to see the children go.

On the third day of their stay in London they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron and Tom the Bartender opened the wall for them, he actually opened a wall, John and Stiles stood there for a moment, mouth slightly ajar, contemplating the weirdness of the situation. Melissa and Scott, having been there before, stood slightly at the side waiting for them to settle down.

Stiles was the first one to pull himself together and took his letter from his back pocket, he grabbed his dad’s hand and pulled him towards the side so they were no longer in the middle of the entrance. He unfolded the piece of paper and started listing of the content:

First-year students will require:

Uniform

Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)

One Plain Pointed Hat (Black) for day wear

One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One Winter Cloak (Black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all student's clothes should carry name-tags at all times.

Books

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

Other Equipment

1 Wand

1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set of brass scales

Students may also bring an Owl OR a Cat OR a Toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.

“I still can’t believe broomstick riding is a thing” Stiles chuckled slightly, “and I can’t wait until we get to learn to play Quidditch.” Stiles had spent all summer reading the book Professor McGonagall left for him, he also borrowed some of Scott’s book and he had now read _Hogwarts: A History, Quidditch through the ages, A History of Magic, Fantastic Beasts and where to find them,_ amongst others. Even though they were Scott’s books, left behind by his father when he decided to leave Melissa and they’re two year old son, Scott hadn’t even opened the books, apart from his dad’s journal. Stiles thought it might have been Scott’s way of staying close to his dad, why Scott would want to be close to the man who left them was a mystery to Stiles but he wasn’t going to question it.

The four of them made their way to Gringotts in order to exchange their muggle money for some wizard money, John had absolutely no idea how much anything cost so he just let Melissa take the lead, who had evidently informed herself much better than he had. The bank on the outside looked like a regular building, a lit old fashioned and a lot bigger than anything else around, but nothing that would make him turn his head twice. There were two small creatures, _goblins_ Stiles thought, that were guarding the outside entrance. The inside on the other hand was like nothing Stiles had ever seen before a marble hall with long counters stretching along its length and hundreds of little goblins sitting at the edge of the counters. They were directed to the muggle exchange counters where the little creatures took their money and in return gave them an assortment of coins that looked like gold, silver and bronze. Like the olympic medals. 

Once the money was taken care of, they set to buy the supplies, Melissa led the way to _Madam Malkin's Robes_ so the boys could get the uniforms first, if they left it till last the boys would just pick whatever instead of properly measuring under the pretence that they were tired. Upon entering the store, there were two girls finishing up the last touches on their robes, a beautiful red head with pale skin and green eyes and next to her was another equally beautiful girl with dark hair and tan skin. The girls’ mother seemed to be good friends as well as they were chatting like they had known each other for years and not just met while buying robes. The list had said they required plain robes, but something told Stiles that the people in the shop were not going to buy just regular clothing. It didn’t take long for the girls to finish and Madam Malkin to pack up the six sets of self ironing robes, four pointed hats each, two pairs of sleek looking black leather gloves, and a ton of name tags, they were packed in two separate bundled but it was becoming more and more clear that the girls were obviously friends. “Come along girls, we still have a lot of shopping to do.” One of the girls’ mother said, she turned around and gave Stiles a small smile before saying goodbye to Madam Malkin. “It’s always a pleasure Talia, see you around!”

With the girls gone, Stiles went up to the front desk eagerly, almost tripping in his haste and turned to Madam Malkin, “Hello! We need three sets of work robes each, please” he said, “and a hat, and Dragonhide gloves?” He finished with the last part sounding more like a question than a request. She smiled down at him and motioned for them to follow her along. Scott stood patiently while Madam Malkin hemmed his robes, but Stiles true to himself kept squirming every few minutes making the process seemingly endless and wearing down on Madam Malkin’s patience. 

Finally after what seemed like forever, and a game to see who could make the other laugh more when the robes were being hemmed, which was quickly ended by one glare from Melissa, the boys were now in possession of their full school uniform. The next stop was Flourish and Blotts so the school books could be bought, Scott already had some, but was missing a fair few and Stiles, boy he needed all the books on the list, but one look at his father with pleading eyes and John was sure Stiles had made him buy at least half the books in there, including a fluffy brown one titled, a Monster Book of Monsters which honestly he wasn’t even going to ask about the teeth. 

The book debacle was followed by John and Melissa buying the rest of the equipment with Stiles and Scott waiting outside while they stared at the new shiny broomstick displayed at Quality Quidditch Supplies window. Stiles could see the dark haired girl from before talking animatedly with her mum in what Stiles assumed was a conversation on how she was old enough to have her own broomstick, it was pretty obvious she wasn’t winning the argument but it amused Stiles she was trying. The red head was sitting down on a stool reading one of the books on Stile’s reading list so they were probably first years like him, _Ariel_ as he had dubbed her in his head seemed completely uninterested in Quidditch and content to just sit down and read while her friend was still trying to make a case for the broom.

It didn’t take long for Melissa and John to finish up and call the boys over so they could head over to Ollivanders to get their wands. “Ah first year students I see come along children!” Mr Ollivander motioned them over while he went to retrieve some wands. Scott hurried along impatient to get his wand, Stiles on the other hand was wary.

The first wand that Scott didn’t really do anything, so Ollivander handed him another with a small _not to worry_ and Scott gave it another flick again not much happened and little frown formed on his face, the third wand that was given to him sent a small shiver down his spine and the moment he flicked it all the lights went out and turned back on, Stiles had never seen Scott look so happy. “Dude look, I think this is my wand!” Scott exclaimed, Ollivander let out a small laugh and turned towards Stiles. Stiels saw him give a strange look before a small smirk appeared on him face, Mr. Ollivander went out back and brought a neat looking box back with him.

“Is that for me?” Stiles asked when Ollivander offered it to him, he nodded and Stiles picked up the wand, there was a slight breeze and Stiles just knew in his core that this was his wand. He gave it a small flick and suddenly the small plant Mr Ollivander had on the desk was on fire. 

“Oh crap!” Stiles let out and the same time his father groaned. “I apologise, he has a tendency to do that” John said sending Stiles a look, and somehow he remember the small fire in the science lab in that spontaneously happened when his science teacher Mr. Harris had told him he was too dumb to read correctly which Stiles knew wasn’t true, he just had a hard time concentrating which he later discovered was thanks to his ADHD.

The rest of the shopping trip went well enough but all four of them were absolutely exhausted by the end. John was carrying most of Stiles’ stuff and a great deal of Scotts while Melissa was carrying the rest of Scott’s school material. Meanwhile Stiles was carrying his newly acquired Northern Saw Whet Owl he had affectionally named Roscoe.

“Son, you do realise that the owl is a girl?” John asked him uncertainly. “Yes dad and her name is Roscoe” and that was the end of the argument. Scott on the other hand had opted to get a Tabby cat who he named George and refused to give an explanation as to why. The rest of them just smiled at Scott without questioning his antiques.

-

“We’re leaving tomorrow” Stiles said at the dinner table in the restaurante they had chosen to spend their last day together. It wasn’t so much a restaurant as it was a burger joint, but they were all enjoying the food. 

“I can’t believe it! It’s going to be the best year ever! I still can’t believe you’re a wizard too, I was so bummed I was never going to get to share this part of my life with you and now dude? We’re going to be best friends forever!” Scott told him and gave him a half hug, which Stiles took the opportunity to steal some curly fries from his plate.

“Now boys, you know we love you very much and we are trusting you to make good decisions, ok? We don’t want to hear back from the school that you’re just goofing off all day!” Melissa told them. They weren’t bad kids, just easily distracted. Stiles was smart enough that school came easily wether he tried or not, but Scott still needed to work extra hard just to stay at an average level.

“Melissa, I promise you we will be the absolute best students Hogwarts has ever seen!” Stiles exclaimed loudly while John just shook his head. What was he going to do without his little boy. 


	2. The sorting ceremony

“We have to what?” Stiles exclaimed at Melissa with a somewhat incredulous expression. 

“Just run into the barrier and you’ll be able to cross it.” She explained calmly for the third time. “Yeah no, what if it doesn’t work and I brain myself and look like an idiot!” He started to say but was interrupted by his dad’s loud voice “Stiles! Come on son, let’s do it together!” 

He grabbed the handle on the trolley that Stiles was holding onto for dear life and started to run towards the barrier. 

Stiles closed his eyes, held his breath and prayed to no one in particular as he ran into the barrier that he has certain he was going to crash into. Was it supposed to be some kind of portal? Or was it more of a disguised curtain? No it couldn’t be a curtain because when he touched it earlier it was brick, it was definitely solid and there was no way that- oh wait he crossed it actually worked. Scott emerged from behind him with Melissa in tow, who was grinning with a raised eyebrow as if to say _I told you so,_ Stiles for his part just sent her an exasperated look. 

This side of the barrier was nothing like King’s Cross, it was like a whole different world, students and parents were running about with trunks and pets. Some were saying their teary goodbyes while some of the other students just rolled their eyes when their mothers tried to give them a kiss. Stiles stomach churned a bit with the thought of his mother, what he would give for just one more kiss.

They headed towards the baggage drop of to leave their newly acquired trunks with everything they would need for the year or at least Stiles hoped it would be enough. Somewhere in the middle of the chaos, Stiles had lost Scott, he thought about looking for him but he was already at the front of the line so he handed over his trunk and grabbed Roscoe from the top of his trunk to bring her along on the train with him, but when he turned back around to go find his dad he bumped into someone’s chest. Stiles let out a small “Oh I’m so sorry” at the same time the stranger said crossly “Watch where you’re going”.

“Wait a second dude, you bumped into me, maybe if you didn’t creep behind first years and then no one would bump into you” Stiles shot right back at the boy. He couldn’t be more than one or two years older than him and was only a few inches taller than Stiles, but the first thing that caught Stiles’ attention was the cute little bunny teeth that poked out. He looked unusually angry for someone who was about to get on a _magic_ train to go to _magic_ school, but the huge eyebrows surely didn’t help. Why did someone so young have eyebrows this _fluffy_ it looked like they could fly away at any moment, what if they did fly away? How far would they go? How fast could eyebrows fly? What if -

“Don’t call me dude, and I wasn’t creeping I was _trying_ to drop off my trunk.” Angry stranger jabbed back. “There is a thing called waiting and respecting people’s personal space you know?” Stiles was getting a little bit pissed of at Angry Brows. “You are taking forever and some of us actually have places to be.” Angry Brows told him.

Stiles was just about to respond when he noticed the same dark haired girl from the robe shop looking highly amused at their exchange, next to her what seemed like an older replica of robe girl was barely containing her laughter. Now that he thought about it all three of them looked eerily similar. He took a little too long to speak because the older girl spoke up. 

“C’mon Der, don’t be rude to the first years.” She said punching Angry Brows on the arm, earning herself a snarl. Who even snarled at people, they weren’t animals. “Don’t worry about my brother kid he’s not always this grumpy, he’s just mad our parents didn’t let him bring his broomstick. I’m Laura by the way, I’m the Ravenclaw prefect.”Laura let out a small laugh and the boy who he now knew was named Der just glared at her, he must be a Slytherin. 

“I’m Stiles! Nice to meet you Laura” Stiles extended his arm towards Laura for a handshake, she shook his hand with a smile and Angry Brow was just looking more and more constipated.

“It’s really nice to meet you, believe me!” She replied, Angry Brows looked like he was going to have an aneurism.

“I really hope I get to see you again Laura! But I have to go find my dad, see you around !” He smiled at Laura and robe girl, but turned to give a pointed glare towards Derek, who just glared right back. Great, making friends on the first day.

It didn’t take long for him to find his dad, Melissa and Scott, they huddled around each other and said their goodbyes. Stiles didn’t cry, he really didn’t. “I love you son.” 

“I love you too dad” He extracted himself from his father as did Scott from his mother and together they made their way to the entrance of the train. They looked back one last time and waved goodbye to their parents, both Melissa and John had tears streaming down their face paired with a smile that spread from ear to ear. 

“C’mon bro, let’s go” Scott nudged Stiles and they got on the train, they were probably the last ones in because all the compartments were full, they were nearing the end when the Stiles saw a compartment with two girls inside, it was Ariel and robe girl. Robe girl lifted her gaze and smiled when she saw them, she beckoned them inside and Stiles didn’t think twice before opening the door and going inside.

“Is it alright if we join you?” He asked, already inside and Scott halfway through the door.

“Sure! I’m Cora by the way and this is Lydia, I’m sorry about my brother he really is a grumpy pants sometimes.” Stiles let out a small laugh and Scott looked at him inquisitively. Ariel or Lydia didn’t even look up from her book.

“Her brother yelled at me when I was dropping of my trunk, this is Scott by the way. Why aren’t your siblings here? Their not coming are they? Because I have a feeling Mr. Murder Brows won’t really appreciate me being here,” Stiles said with a face, earning him a laugh from Cora.

“No, Laura’s a prefect so she’s sitting with the other prefects and Derek is sitting with his friends, he’s too cool to be seen with us first years even though he was a first year himself last year.” Cora told him.

“What are you reading” Scott asked Lydia more out of politeness than any real interest. She looked up at him briefly with judgemental eyes and lifted up her book.

“A new theory of Numerology? Oh I read that during the summer! It’s a really interesting book, I’ve always really loved numbers, but when you add magic, boy the possibilities are endless!” Stiles exclaimed excitedly. Lydia was now looking at him with a mixture of astonishment and interest. 

“Wait you’ve read it? It’s a third year book at the least, Laura’s in fifth year and she refuses to take Arithmancy it because it’s hard, and she’s a _Ravenclaw_!” Cora told him, clearly surprised.

“Yeah, Scott had it lying around the house and I thought it would be good idea to research a bit before you know, besides your friend is reading it too!” Stiles send gesturing vaguely towards Lydia. 

“Yeah but she’s the brightest witch in our generation” Cora beamed proudly, “wait, are you muggleborn?” She asked him quietly and Stiles worried about her tone for a second.

“Um yeah, I actually found to about magic on my birthday, Scott’s known about it all his life an never told me!” He feigned hurt. Cora giggled while Scott sent him a look.

The train ride to Hogwarts was filled with chatter, Cora asked him about muggle stuff, she’d grown up in a fully wizard family and was curious as to how non magical folk lived. Lydia didn’t lift her head up from her book much but she argued with Stiles for twenty minutes on whether Dementors could feed off of vampires, Lydia refused to admit defeat but went back to her book when Stiles pointed out that vampires lose their souls when they become undead and that dementors feed off of souls so technically they can’t feed off of vampires. Cora looked like Christmas came early and Stiles assumed she didn’t get to beat Lydia all that often.

No matter how much Stiles tried to integrate Scott into the conversation, he just gave short replies and refused to participate much and it was starting to get on Stiles’ nerves, but soon enough they were nearing the end of the journey and they all went to change into their robes. It was when they all returned freshly changed that Scott finally spoke up, “Which house do you guys think you’re going to be in’” 

Lydia looked mildly annoyed but answered anyways “Ravenclaw”. 

Cora smiled fondly at her friend, “everyone in her family has been in Ravenclaw, and I already mentioned she’s the smartest witch our age. I’m not sure about me though, Laura’s a Ravenclaw and Der Bear is Hufflepuff like our dad, and mum’s a Gryffindor, so it might be any of them? I feel like it might be Slytherin though.” She said smiling. Murder brows was in Hufflepuff? That was … unexpected.

Everything Scott had told him about Slytherin made Stiles wonder as to why Cora would be happy to be in Slytherin, but he was too polite to ask. Scott on the other hand had no problem what so ever with showing his disdain. “Why would you _want_ to be in Slytherin?

Cora’s smile dimmed a little, “and what’s wrong with that? Ambition? Determination? Resourcefulness? Those are all great qualities to have, and there is nothing wrong with knowing what you want to do with your life and working for it!” Stiles had never thought of it like that, but Cora had a point.

“What about all the bad things though? You-know-who came from Slytherin! Everyone knows that’s where all the bad wizards come from!” Scott replied.

“SCOTT!” Stiles interjected but it fell mute because Cora was already starting to yell. “Yeah? What about Peter Pettigrew? The greatest traitor of all was a Gryffindor! And Gilderoy Lockhart? He was a fraud and a Ravenclaw. Your house doesn’t define your worth, you do!”

Stiles thanked the heavens for the train stopping that exact moment, the Cora was out of the compartment in a second and Scott followed almost immediately, Lydia put her book away but turned to look at him before she left. “I’m really glad I met you, I was starting to think that I was going to have no competition. You’re a smart boy, but your friend not so much.”

It took stiles a moment before he regained himself enough to be able to leave the train. When he did he found a rather large man with a long black beard calling for all the first years to follow him. Stiles caught up with Scott rather quickly and gave him a half hug before continuing together behind the large group of eleven year olds.

The great giant, who introduced himself as Hagrid, led them along a shady path until they arrived at the edge of a great black lake. “You will form groups of four and the boats will sail all the way to Hogwarts, where Headmistress McGonagall will be waiting for you to arrive” he said.

“But how are we supposed to row? Or steer?” Stiles asked from behind the group and a few giggles were heard throughout. Hagrid ignored them and turned to Stiles “Well Mr?” “Stiles!” “Well Mr. Stiles, the boats are enchanted and they will sail themselves. Now hurry up and get into groups of four!”

It seemed like everyone had quickly formed friends because the only two other people without a group were Cora and Lydia. When Cora realised this a scowl quickly formed across her face, but it softened a bit when Stiles gave her a pleading look. “C’mon Scott, try to play nice? For me?” Stiles asked. Scott frowned a little but nodded and the four of them got on the boat and sailed away

-

Magnificent didn’t even begin to describe the view in front of Stiles, he knew Hogwarts was a castle, he’d even seen pictures in the books he had read, but it wasn’t enough to prepare him for the absolute beauty that surrounded him. Cora, Scott and even Lydia looked just as mesmerised as he did. As they ventured closer, Stiles could see the silhouette of a women standing near the docks, and a few moments later Stiles realised it was Professor McGonagall or Headmistress as Hagrid had called her. 

She waited until everyone was out of the boats before calling for everyone to follow her. It was a long and complicated path and Stiles was sure he would never be able to remember it. It seemed like forever, when they finally made it to a stairwell and the Headmistress told them to stop, or at least Stiles assumed that’s what had happened because he was too distracted by everything to even begin to pay attention. McGonagall came back and declared “We are ready for you” before going back inside with everyone following. Panicked he turned to Cora “ready for what?” He whispered and Cora just sighed. “The sorting ceremony.”

Stiles didn’t have chance to respond because they were suddenly all lined up in front of a stool with an old looking hat on top. Moments later Headmistress McGonagall took out a long scroll and yelled out “Allison Argent”

A girl with dark hair approached the stool and the Headmistress placed the hat gingerly on her head, a moment later the hat called out _Gryffindor_. So that’s how Stiles’s fate was going to be decided, his future depended on an old hat. Great. The rest of the ceremony continued in a similar fashion. 

Stiles was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard “Cora Hale”, he looked over and gave her an encouraging smile which she returned. It took a little longer than with Allison but the hat soon yelled _Slytherin_ and the table to the left leapt up in celebration, all the houses where enthusiastic when they got a new member, but this was even bigger than what any of the others had done and Stiles wondered for a moment if maybe his initial thoughts about her were right and she was somewhat of a big deal.

“Danny Mahealani” 

_Hufflepuff_

Stiles turned towards the Hufflepuff table and almost immediately spotted Derek clapping with what almost looked like a smile.

“Lydia Martin”

_Ravenclaw_

Somewhere in the background Stiles was sure he heard Laura’s voice over everyone else's.

“Scott McCall”

This was it, Scott looked at him and smiled, Stiles smiled back and wished his friend luck.

_Gryffindor_

Stiles can’t say he wasn’t expecting it, Scott knew he was going to be sorted there, just like his father, but Stiles knew deep down he wasn’t going to be there as well, and something told him life at Hogwarts wasn’t going to be exactly as he planned.

“Aiden Steiner”

_Gryffindor_

They were getting closer and closer to Stiles’ last name and with every person that rose, his heart accelerated even more.

“Ethan Steiner”

Oh look twins, that was fun.

_Ravenclaw_

Cool, cool, cool, everything was fine.

“Mieczyslaw Stilinski”

Oh, that was him, he was surprised they hadn’t butchered his name that much. It wasn’t perfect pronunciation but it could have definitely been worse. He was almost at the stool, moment of truth, please let the hat be right.

_Oh well this is interesting._

**You talk?**

_Of course I talk child you’ve heard me yell out names for the past twenty minutes_

**Well yeah, but I didn’t know you could read minds**

_How else am I supposed to sort you, so hush. I see a thirst for knowledge, Ravenclaw would suit you, but there is also passion and determination, you could learn a lot from Slytherin._

Stiles looked over to Scott with so much hope on his face, waiting for his friend to join him at the Gryffindor table. He looked over at Lydia, who surprisingly was looking at him expectantly, as if she was certain he was going to be in Ravenclaw. Finally he glanced over at Cora, there was no expectation there, the only thing he could see was support.

_Do I get a choice?_

**You can tell me what you would prefer, but I make no promises**

_I want to be in Slytherin_

Almost immediately he heard the sorting hat yell loud enough for everyone to hear.

_Slytherin_

The Slytherin table once again clapped and for a brief moment Stiles turned to Scott but the betrayed look on his friend’s face was more than he could bare. Lydia was clapping as well, a small smile on her face but Stiles could see the disappointment in her eyes. On a whim Stiles let himself look at the Hufflepuff table, he didn’t even think Derek would look his way, but he was surprised to find Derek’s gaze on him with a small frown on his face. Stiles didn’t have time to think about it because he was suddenly pulled down next to Cora and engulfed in a hug.

The hat continued to yell names for a while Malia Tate was placed in Hufflepuff, _that’s my cousin_ Cora whispered in his ear. Slytherin had another boy named Jackson Whittemore and the last girl to be sorted was Kira Yukimura, she was declared a Ravenclaw and the feast began.

Cora began piling her plate with so much food Stiles was sure he was going to go into some kind of coma by just looking at her, there was no way a girl that small could eat that much food. It was just not physically possible, but he wasn’t one to judge, so he just turned to put plate in his own plate. 

“Why don’t you leave some food for the rest of us mongrel,” a blonde girl who looked like she might be a fifth year sneered at Cora. Stiles was absolutely gobsmacked, Cora’s eyes widened a bit and before she could respond another boy told her off. “How about you shut the fuck up Kate, there’s more than enough for everyone.”

Stiles wanted to ask Cora about it but she just shook her head and Stile took it as an indication to shut up. The rest of the meal was spent a lot in better spirits and Stiles kept asking Cora so many questions, which she was more than happy to answer. The older students kept an easy conversation with the younger ones and one third year in particular was discussing the which Batman was the best with Stiles, obviously Christian Bales, and it made Stiles feel a lot better that he wasn’t the only muggle born in the school.

Stiles managed to get some information on the blonde girl from one of the students when Cora was distracted devouring a turkey leg. Apparently her name was Kate Argent, she was a Slytherin prefect, she was usually a very nice girl, well liked around school, and incredibly smart, but something told Stiles that wasn’t that she wasn’t as innocent as the rest of the house thought she was.

It wasn’t long before everyone was finished eating and the food suddenly disappeared from the table. First year Slytherins were instructed to follow the Head Boy towards the Slytherin Common Room. They exited the Great Hall and took went through a door on the right side, there was a stone stairwell that kept leading them further and further down. “I don’t suppose you guys have some sort of magical lifts?” Stiles asked Cora, who just looked at him in confusion. It was a third year Slytherin who snorted and turned to Stiles, “I asked myself the same question when I got here, but don’t worry you get used to it after a while.” He clapped Stiles on the back and went ahead of the first years.

They kept descending until they reached what Stiles was hoping were dungeons. This place has _dungeons_. It was officially the coolest castle every. “Emerald” The Head boy said and suddenly a passage appeared from the walls leading them to what Stiles assumed was the corridor. Once inside the common room Stiles was pretty impressed. There were several sofas along the room with green carpets under every piece of furniture. The whole room had a green glow about it, and on both ends of the room sat a fireplace with the picture of Salazar Slytherin on top, the second floor was more of a balcony that overlooked the first floor and on both sides rested floor to ceiling bookcases filled to the brim with more books than Stiles could ever imagine reading, but he had the next seven years to try. He made it his personal challenge to read all of them. Perhaps the most impressive thing in Stiles’ mind was the wall directly in front of them, it wasn’t so much a wall as it was a glass that gave them the view to the lake they had crossed over on their way to the castle. Rationally Stiles knew that everything should be pitch black and impossible to see through but he could clearly observe different coloured fish floating everywhere.

“Are we allowed to swim in there?” Stiles asked, some of his house mates turned to the Head Boy obviously wondering about the same thing. Others looked at him like he was an idiot. The Head Boy however had a constipated look about him, and Stiles could pinpoint the exact moment he realised that Stiles was going to be a troublemaker.

“No.” He said and left no room for argument. Not that Stiles was going to argue. He would swim in the lake if he wanted to, he was just going to have to be sneaky about it.

The Head Boy gave them a few minutes to chat amongst themselves before explaining the house rules. Boys to the left, girls to the right, no boys in the girls’ rooms no girls in the boys’ rooms. No sneaking out in the middle of the night, blah blah blah. He stopped paying attention halfway through the speech.

“We are so breaking all of those rules right?” Cora whispered in Stiles ear. “Oh absolutely.” He grinned back at her, they split up each heading up to their own bedrooms for the night, but they promised to meet in the common room bright and early the next day so they could head to breakfast together.

-

All the boys of the same year slept in the same room which Stiles thought might take a little while for him to get used to seeing as he had never had to share anything in his life. Well he shared everything with Scott, but that was different that was his brother. The room was a long rectangle with two beds on the left and two beds on the right. Directly in front of them was another long glass wall that gave them a full view underneath the lake. his had to be the coolest common room ever. Next to each bed was a little night table with an oil lap on top and Stiles wondered not for the first time if wizards knew about electricity. All the trunks had already been taken in and set on the foot of each bed. Stiles instinctively went to the left and the first trunk had the initials J. W. so not his, the one closest to the wall had the initials M. S.so stiles assumed it was his. On top of his trunk however was a green and silver scarf with matching gloves and hat with the Slytherin crest embroidered. Upon further inspection all the boys had the same things. Stiles assumed that everyone in their house had the same ones.

“Stilinski, you stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine deal?” A boy Stiles knew was named Jackson told him even though it meant to sound like a question. 

“Yeah, sure whatever.” He was starting to regret his decision to be in Slytherin. It was obvious Jackson didn’t like him very much and his other two roommates didn’t even attempt to acknowledge him. Its was going to be a very long six years, but at least he had Roscoe to keep him company. 

Speaking of, Roscoe was perched on a wooden pole at the end of his bed. Stiles had never thought that he could get so easily attached to a bird of all things, but he found himself realising that he would give the world for his tiny owl.

Stiles tucked himself into bed and closed his eyes, tomorrow was going to be a new day and everything was going to turn out fine. He was sure of it.


	3. First Day at Hogwarts

Stiles woke up to someone throwing a pillow at his face. “Wake up Stilinski, you’re going to be late to breakfast.” Stiles opened his eyes to see it had been Jackson who had thrown his pillow at Stiles. It wasn’t the nicest way to wake up but he thought it was nice of Jackson to make sure he had enough time to get breakfast. “Thanks, Jackson,” Stiles grunted and threw the pillow back at him.

He briefly considered going back to sleep but the clock next to him indicated it was seven thirty in the morning and he had promised Cora he would meet her at eight in the common room so they could walk to the dinning hall together. He headed to the bathroom on his floor and was a little shocked to see it. Black marble covered the floors and walls, the sinks where three hexagon pillarswith six sinks on each pillar and a small mirror in front of each sink. Further into the bathroom there was a green granite bathtub in the middle of the room, and off to the left were six shower stalls with little changing areas attached to them. On the other side of the bathtub there was a row four huge mirrors with a plush chair in front of each one, why boys would need that many mirror was lost to Stiles, but it went with the whole vibe. The bathroom had a certain roman aspect to it and Stiles thought it went well with the whole Slytherin theme.

Four of the six showers were currently being used, so Stiles quickly snagged the one farthest from the door and tried to shower as fast as he could. Mostly because he had less than thirty minutes to meet Cora, but partly because he was a little bit afraid that someone would steal his clothes. It wouldn’t be the first time, ten year old boys could be very mean.

The water was surprisingly perfect, not too cold and not too warm and the pressure was just right, Stiles had a feeling magic had something to do with it. He made quick work with scrubbing himself clean and finished showering in record time. He got dressed in his new robes which had somehow been embroidered with the Slytherin logo over night. He brushed his teeth with four minutes to spare, Stiles hadn’t had his hair buzzed since the start of summer so it was a little longer than he was used to but still short enough that it didn’t really need any work so he sped down the stairs with his hair a little wet to find Cora waiting for him on one of the leather couches in the common area, dressed in the same robes he was wearing.

“Heeeey Cora, how’d you sleep?” He said when he reached the last step.

“Pretty well if I do say so myself” She replied, but placed a hand in front of him. “Wait, stop… stop. What did you do to your tie? Did you literally just tie a knot?” She looked at him in horror and Stiles just gave her a sheepish smile, his dad used to tie his tie every morning before school and I wasn’t really something he had thought to ask his dad to teach him before he left.

“I never really learnt to tie a tie? And I wasn’t going to ask Jackson for help, he’s probably make sure the whole school knew I don’t know how to tie it and I’d never live it down.” He tried to defend himself but Cora just untied his monstrosity of a knot and was retying it properly within seconds. “I’m going to show you, I promise, but in the mean time just loosen it and fasten it when you take it off and put it on. That way you won’t actually have to tie it every day.” She told him with a smile. “Thanks”

Making their way to the Great Hall wasn’t nearly as complicated as Stiles had thought and they where almost their when Lydia caught up to them. “Morning.” She said cheerily

“Hey Lyds! How did you sleep? Did you like your common room? Tell me everything” Cora asked barely containing her excitement and she hugged her friend.

“It’s actually pretty amazing, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, we have books upon books upon books and you need to solve a riddle to get in!” Lydia told them excitedly. “Sharing a bedroom is a bit weird but the view from the window is incredible.”

The three of them sat down at the Slytherin table, earning Lydia a couple of weird looks. It wasn’t completely unprecedented, Gryffindors sat with Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws with Gryffindors, the occasional Slytherin would visit their sibling at another table, but after the Second Wizarding War the divide between Slytherin and the other three houses was very present. No one sat down with the Slytherins. Stiles turned towards the Gryffindor table and almost immediately spotted Scott, he waited until Scott looked over to wave at him, but Scott pretended he hadn’t seen him and went back into conversation with a pretty brunette. Wow ok, so much for friends for ever. It had been a day and Scott was already ignoring him.

He turned back to Lydia, trying not to show his disappointment but both girls had noticed. “That is literally the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. We have to use a password, but dude we have a full view of the the lake, it’s pretty amazing as well! What was the riddle they gave you?” Stiles asked, ignoring the looks.

“Well, I can’t tell you the password to our common room Stiles” Lydia told him with an eye roll.

“You’re not telling me the password, are you? You’re telling me a _riddle_ ” He countered. Lydiapaused for a second before telling him. “Many have heard me, but not have seen me, I will not speak until spoken to. What am I?” She relented, it wasn’t like he was going to get it right away. Lydia had solved it almost immediately, but some of her house mates had taken a bit longer. 

Stiles stopped eating for a second, he put his fork down and went still. Cora just rolled her eyes and Lydia smirked when Stiles didn’t seem to know. “An echo?” He said, and Lydia’s smirk faded to a scowl. “I hate you” she said as she stabbed her sausage. “No you don’t.”

When they were almost done eating, the Slytherin prefect _Kate,_ Stiles thought, came by and handed Stiles and Cora their schedules, completely ignoring Lydia. To be fair she didn’t really pay attention to Stiles and Cora, merely threw the pieces of parchment in their direction. Cool.

Lydia looked a little lost, but Laura appeared behind her in a matter of seconds. “Here you go red, I was wondering where you had gotten up to.” She handed Lydia a piece of parchment with what Stiles assumed was her schedule, and bent down to give Cora a kiss. “Stiles, hey! I see you three have become quite a team!” She grinned at him.

“Yeah! Cora and Lyds have been very welcoming, it’s still a bit overwhelming at times, and I don’t think I could do this with out them” he told her sincerely.

“Oh! You’re not from a wizarding family?” Stiles saw a little bit of a frown but Laura covered it up so quickly that Stiles thought he might have imagined it.

“Um no, I just recently learned about magic a few months agoand now here I am? I mean it’s great and everything, but I used to think wizards and unicorns and goblins and dragons were all fantasy and now it turns out they’re real and I’m one of them! A wizard, not a unicorn. It’s a little bit overwhelming at times.” He said. Laura gave him a genuine smile and rested her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll do great. But I have to get going kids, enjoy your your first day! Don’t get into trouble!” The three of them let out a b _ye Laura_ and slightly different times but waved her away as she left. 

Stiles looked down at his schedule for the first time since Kate gave it to him. First year classes included Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Herbology, as well as flying lessons. Stiles had never really been a sporty person, in fact he regularly skipped P.E. or claimed he had forgotten his kit at home and was made to sit on the bench and read much to his delight, so flying wasn’t something he was really looking forward too. “We have flying lessons every day?” He exclaimed unhappily.

“Not on Fridays?” Cora tried to make him feel better but it was obvious she was excited for that one.

“Wait a second, I have flying on Fridays, its Wednesday’s I’m free. What classes do we share?” Lydia asked them leaning towards the table.

They put their schedules side by side and realised they had Defence Against the Dark Arts on Monday second period, Charms on Tuesdays and Thursdays on first period and Astronomy on Wednesday at —

“Midnight? We have a class at midnight?”  
“Well of course Stiles, it’s Astronomy we have to be able to see the stars.” Lydia told him like it was the most normal thing in the world. Wizards had no respect for sleeping schedules.

“You’re right it’s not like the sun goes down at nine so we couldn’t possibly have class at that time.” Stiles retorted and Lydia just glared.

The bell rang and the three of them stood up. “Come on Stiles we don’t want to be late to potions, I heard Professor Slughorn is really strict on tardiness:” Stiles let himself be dragged by Cora while Lydia headed of to her Herbology class.

They barely made it to the classroom in time and the only available work table was on the first row in front of a pair of Hufflepuffs, the girl Stiles recognised as Cora’s cousin _Maria?_ Cora waved hello at her and Maria waved backed. Professor Slughorn walked in with a joyful expression on his face.

“Good morning class. I’m Professor Slughorn and I will be teaching you the noble art of potions. I see a few familiar faces, ah another Hale! What a pleasure! I expect great things from you, your sister is one of my best students!” Slughorn directed the last bit at Cora who was doing her best to hide behind her _Magical Drafts and Potions_ book. 

“Now who can tell me the difference between Wolfsbane and Monkshood?” Professor Slughorn asked and Stiles was surprised to see both Cora and Maria lift their hands as well as him. “Malia Hale is it? Ah yes well you should know this!” _Malia not Maria._

“They are both the same plant professor, it is also known as aconite. It’s highly poisonous.” Malia told him. “Very good, Miss Hale, five point to Hufflepuff! Today we will attempt to brew to the cure for boils, if successful pink smoke will be coming out of your cauldrons, if not then you will have earned yourself a free pass to the infirmary” _What? Was this even safe? What is this school?. Ok_ Stiles thought _You’ve got this._

“How about you do the mixing and I’ll pass you the ingredients.” Cora told him, already opening up the book she didn’t seem overly confident in her abilities making Stiles think that potions was more of Laura’s subject.

“Sure, what’s first?”

“We’re going to need crush six snake fangs, I can handle that.” Cora said and added six fangs and started crushing them.

“Ok, I’ll get the quills in the mean time.” And Stiles was suddenly so grateful for Melissa teaching him how to cook. Stiles and his mother had often baked a lot until she had gotten to sick, and after she passed away, Melissa thought cooking would be a good way to remember her, so she always let Stiles help her in the kitchen.

“I think it’s done.” Cora said and was about to throw the powder in when Stiles stopped her. “Wait, it says it has to be a fine powder and there a chunks of fangs all over!” Stiles informed her. “Yeah but it’s good enough right?” Stiles just gave her a look. “ _Ugh fiiiine,”_ Cora went back to grinding the fangs until they were completely pulverised. 

“Ok we’re going to need four measures of the fangs, how about you add them while I stir?” Stiles asked Cora and she did.

“Ok now count ten seconds” Cora counted and when she was done Stiles waved his wand imitating the movements from the book. The instructions indicated they had to brew the potion for forty five minutes before continuing on to the next part. Stiles turned around and realised that he and Cora were the only pair to not have an accident. Malia and her partner had soot on their faces from leaving the snake fangs on heat for two long and it proceeding to blow up. Jackson and his partner decided that they didn’t need to wait and went on to the second part of the potion which is how they ended up covered in boils and Slughorn set them to the infirmary. Stiles turned to help Malia and the boy who had now introduced himself as Danny, while the rest of his potion brewed. 

When Cora told him the forty five minutes had passed, they added four slugs and removed the cauldron from the fire. “Ok, Cora add two porcupine quills and I’ll stir five times, clockwise.” Sties told her. They did as such, and Stiles waved his wand once again, suddenly pink smoke started emanating from the cauldron. 

“Well done, Miss Hale, I knew I could expect great things from you!” Professor Slughorn told her, completely ignoring Stiles. “Oh no, Professor, this was all Stiles.” She informed him. Professor Slughorn had a surprised look, but non the less congratulated Stiles. “It was a team effort, Professor.” Stiles told him, but was cut short when Malia screamed, their cauldron had melted and the potion was spilling everywhere. Stiles grabbed Cora and they stepped back, away from the mess.

“Oh dear, you have to remove the cauldron from the heat _before_ adding the quills Miss Haless.” Professor Slughorn said, before removing the mess from the table with a flick of his wand. By the end of the class the only team to have successfully completed the potion was Stiles and Cora’s team whichin turn earned Slytherin 20 points.

Cora and Stiles rushed to the North Tower from the dungeons thinking it would take forever, but when they arrived at the classroom only a few students were there. Right at the front, sat Lydia with her parchment and quill already prepared. Cora sat next to her and Stiles next to Cora so they were occupying half of the first row. They chatted about their first class while the rest of the students slowly trickled in, Lydia told them about the bush she set on fire in Herbology and Cora told her about the whole potions incident.

“Good morning students, I am Professor Hopkins and I shall be teaching you Defence against the Dark Arts.” A somewhat young looking Professor walked in. “We will be starting the class with dueling and basic defensive spells.” He reached the front of the classroom and dropped his books on the desk. 

“Mr. Whittemore can you tell me the basic components of duel?” The professor asked Jackson who was just arriving. Madam Pomfrey had done her best to get rid of as many boils as possible but there were still obvious remnants of welts all across Jackson’s face and hands, Stiles felt a little bad. When it became obvious that Jackson wasn’t going to answer, probably because he was in too much pain to actually think, Lydia raised her hand and Professor Hopkins beckoned her to answer. “It is when two or more wizards enter into combat with the condition that only magic is used. Each party must face each other and bow, and on the count of three they will attempt todisarm, stun, injure, defeat, or kill each other in order to declare a winner.” She said.

“Very good Miss Martin. There are some basic spell we can you to disarm and stun out opponents if we ever find ourselves in a position to do so. We have the _Verdimillious Charm, Verdimillious Duo spell,_ and _Verdimillious Tria_ as well as the _Smokescreen spell_. I will also teach you how to emit red and green sparks from your wands in case of emergencies. The _Wand Lighting Charm_ is also and important skill to have but you will most likely cover it with Professor Flitwick in Charms. We will spend the first few weeks learning about these spells and when I feel confident you are prepared we will start to practice the spells in class. I hold an extracurricular duelling club, it is normally open to third years and above but I will allow the exceptional to participate if they wish to do so.” The professor continued to talk for the rest of the class, Lydia was already trying to figure out how she was going to get into the duelling club. Stiles wasn’t particularly excited for it but eh, he might join just for fun.

They were heading towards the Great Hall for lunch when Jackson caught up to them, “Hey Lydia, how was your summer?” He asked her, his face still looked a little worse for wear but he seemed to be healing fine.

“It was fine.” She answered shortly, but Stiles could se a faint trace of pink colour her cheeks. “Ok, well see you around I guess,” Jackson said and walked towards the Great Hall a lot quicker. 

“You and Jackson friends?” Stiles asked her. “His dad is the Head of the Auror Office, Lydia’s mum is the Head Curse Breaker at Gringotts and my dad is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They’re really good friends, so we’ve kind of all known each other since we were babies. Lydia has had a crush on Jackson foreeeever.” Cora informed. “I do not have a crush on him.” Lydia said forcefully and sat down, effectively ending the argument. They started putting food on their plates and to Stiles’s surprise a blonde Slytherin girl sat in front of him, “So you’re the infamous Stiles,” she said, “I’ve been wanting to meet you.”

“You’re going to scare him Erica, also Derek is going to kill you.” Cora told her but she was smiling none the less.

“Well I’d like to see him try.” She retorted.

“Why exactly am I infamous?” Stiles asked her.

“I heard you stood up to Derek, I’m impressed, I’ve seen sixth years run away from his scowl.” She told him.

“Yeah well it’s not my fault the guy hates everyone.” Stiles told her, and took a bite out of his pastie.

“Oh believe me he doesn’t hate you.” She said, and Cora kicked her which Stiles found a little bit odd.

“Fine, _loathes, despises, abhors_ me, take your pick.” Stiles responded.

“Those are awful complicated words for an eleven year old.” Erica said.

“Like you’re one to talk, you’re twelve.” Stile retorted.

“Excuse you, I’m actually thirteen, my mum thought it would be a good idea for me to stay in muggle school for an extra year before I started at Hogwarts.” Erica told him.

“You’re muggleborn too?” Stiles asked, so far he hadn’t met any other muggleborns and he was desperate for someone to talk to about normal things now that Scott had decided Stiles wasn’t worth being friends with.

“No, my dad’s a wizard, but my mother wanted me to be able to live the best of both worlds, so I grew up in a muggle community but I was always taught about magic as well.” She explained. “I love Hogwarts don’t get me wrong, but I also love the muggle world? I miss my comic books the most, but my dad said I couldn’t bring them with me. I really hate this anti muggle technology the school has going on,” Erica continued.

“You like comic books? Who’s your favourite? I’m more of a DC kind of guy, Batman is the BEST.” Stiles told her excitedly. Erica visibly perked up at that and they spent the entire meal discussing who would win in a fight, Catwoman vs Batman. Cora and Lydia gave up trying to make sense half way through the conversation and started one of their own. By the end of lunch, Stiles was certain that Erica was his soul mate, and very sadly departed with Cora in tow towards his first ever flying lesson. _Yuppy._

This was the first time Stiles had seen Scott since the sorting ceremony, not counting Scott dismissal of him at breakfast. He looked at Cora for a moment and she nodded, so they walked towards him. “Hey man! It looks like we have flying class together, it’s awesome! I know this is what you were most excited about!” Stiles said as he drew nearer to Scott. He was standing alone, but didn’t really look very excited to see Stiles. “Yeah, oh look the Professor’s coming maybe we should get to our places.” Scott said and shuffled away to a spot in the middle of one of the twins and the brunette girl from breakfast. The brunette gave him an apologetic look even though she had nothing to be sorry for.

“Let’s go Sti, there are two brooms together over there.” Cora led him to a couple of spots next to each other. It was funny because all the Gryffindors were on one side and the Slytherins on the opposite. He didn’t live through the Second Wizarding War, he had read about it different books and he was sure they were going to cover it in their History of Magic class, but he hadn’t _lived_ through it so he didn’t think he could ever understand this animosity between the houses.

Madam Hooch was the flying instructor, she was small but Stiles was a little bit intimidated by her. “Good afternoon class.” She said as she walked between the two rows of students. She stood at the front of the class, "Flying is not unlike walking. It's just much more difficult, and far more dangerous.” She told them.

“Dude I can barely walk right without dying, there is no way I am going to be able to _fly_ ,” Stiles mocked whispered to Cora who just snorted and shook her head.

“Everybody, I want you to step up to the left side of your broom, stick your right hand over your broom and say “up”” She instructed.

Everyone did as they were told and Cora’s broom immediately flew up towards her hand on her first try. Stiles was only a little bit jealous. Everyone else broom took a few tries to get there but they eventually did, Stiles and Scott were the only ones still struggling to get their brooms up, but a couple more tries and suddenly the broom flew to Stiles’ hand.

“Now,once you’ve gotten a hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. Grip it tight, you don’t want to slide of the end. When I blow my whistle I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard.Keep your brooms steady, hover for a moment and then lean forward slightly and touch back down.” She told them and Stiles was already getting anxious. 

Once again Cora did amazingly and so did the Gryffindor brunette. Everyone else was doing fine, but then Scott who hadn’t gotten himself very far up, slipped from his broom and fell to the ground. Madam Hooch immediately went to his side, but he’d literally fallen maybe ten inches from the ground, he was fine. It was more than enough for Stiles though, he refused to even try to lift himself up and was determined to stay planted with both feet on the ground. 

“You can’t be scared of broomsticks forever Stiles,” Cora told him on their way back to the castle, they still had a little over half an hour to spare before they had to head over to Herbology so they decided to sit by the lake until it was time to leave.

“I’m not scared of them I just don’t want to die. Also it’s not forever, just until the end of the year and I never have to see a broom again.” He responded.

“What if you get a tutor?” She suggested.

“Would you help me? I’m kind of hesitant of making a fool out of myself in front of everyone.” If Cora helped him out then he might not fail sports for the first time in his life.

“Well, I’m not really known for my patience. When I tried to teach Lydia we ended up not speaking to each other for a whole week. But Derek is really good at flying! And he’s really patient, I’m sure he’ll be happy to.” Cora told him.

“Derek your brother? Who wants to murder me? I’d rather take my chances with death.” Stiles said only half serious.

“He doesn’t hate you, and he’s really good, he’s trying out for the quidditch team this year and he’s already got a spot promised because he’s _that_ good.” She tried to convince him, Stiles wasn’t sure why she was so insistent on him and Derek getting along but he wasn’t going to fall for it.

“I really appreciate it but I’m going to pass,” Stiles told her, “Now come on or we’re going to be late to Herbology and no one wants to be late on their first day. Cora dropped the subject but was a little disappointed. 

The Herbology classes took place at the greenhouses behind the castle so the walk wasn’t long. Professor Longbottom was already at the greenhouse greeting each student personally. Once again Malia and Danny were seated next to them.

“Good afternoon class, I hope you are all doing well. This is Herbology and here we will learn to care for and utilise plants, learn about their magical properties and what they are used for.” He told them. 

“Today we will be learning about the Spiky Bush, does anyone know how to destroy one?” He asked. 

“The fire making spell” Stiles answered. “Very good, Mr. Stilinski. Have you ever performed one before?” Professor Longbottom asked him.

“No, but I’ve read about it.” Stiles answered. “Well how about you give it a try, if it doesn’t work don’t worry about it.” Professor Longbottom told him.

“ _Incendio”_ Stiles said clearly, he had expected a small burst of flames to shoot from his wand onto the plant, but what came out was anything but small, and the bush he aimed for was engulfed in flames along with the three others surrounding it. 

Professor Longbottom immediately put it out and turned towards him. “It was your first time?” Stiles nodded. “I used to have a friend that made everything blow up all the time, you remind me of him a little bit.” Stiles was happy he hadn’t gotten into trouble. “I once set a pot of Brussel sprouts on fire because I don’t like them.” He told the Professor, who just laughed.

The rest of the class attempted to set the bush on fire as well, some managed a small flames while others couldn’t even muster enough fire to light a candle. Jackson was particularly proud because he managed to hold the flames for a few seconds before they withered away.

-

They had a few hours before they had to be down at dinner so Cora and Stiles met up with Lydia and decided to explore the castle a bit before dinner. “Why do you have a bruise on your forehead?” Stiles asked Lydia when finally arrived. “Well hello to you too, Stiles, I hope your day has been good.” She responded.

“I saw you two hours ago, don’t change the subject what happened to your face?” He asked again but it was Cora who spoke up, “The broom hit you in the face again, didn’t it?” She asked with a smile and Stiles let out a cross between a laugh and a cough. 

“Let’s just go please.” Lydia said with a huff and started going up the stairs, Stiles was full on laughing now and Cora grinned. “If it makes you feel better Stiles wouldn’t even get on the broom.” Stiles stop laughing and gave Cora a betrayed look. “Why would you tell her that?” He asked indignantly. Cora just shrugged but Lydia was smiling now and that was enough for Stiles.


	4. The Honeydukes incident

Stiles had been at Hogwarts for one month and he honestly couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t studying there and Lydia and Cora weren’t his best friends. It had also been exactly one month since Scott had stopped talking to him, but it hurt a little bit less every day. He thought about telling his dad, but he didn’t want to worry him, on the other hand, if Scott had told Melissa they weren’t friends anymore then Melissa would have told his dad and his dad would have asked him about it, so it was probably for the best that he hadn’t said anything.

It was a typical Monday morning and Stiles had absolutely no reason to believe it would be any different from any other day. Cora and him met Lydia at breakfast before they went to potions together sitting in front of Danny and Jackson who seemed to have formed a really good, albeit surprising, friendship. One time someone had made fun of Danny for falling of his broom during flying lesson, he had been sick at the time, and when Lydia told Jackson about it, he tracked down the poor Ravenclaw and threatened to do thing to him that they both refuse to mention ever again. No one had messed with Danny since then.

It had been a fun potions lesson and Stiles and Cora had managed to successfully brew a Wiggeneld Potion, some of which Stiles kept _just in case,_ so they were still riding the high of their win when they arrived to their D.A.D.A class. As usual Cora sat next to Lydia and Stiles next to Cora.

Moments later Professor Hopkins came in announcing the start of the next unit. “This unit we shall be learning about some of the most common dark creatures and how to defend yourself against them. Ghosts, Imps, Hags, Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies-” He was interrupted by an ear splitting screech from Cora pushing her chair out. “Is there a reason you included werewolves in the list of dark creatures?” She asked and Stiles was pretty sure she wasn’t really looking for an answer. 

“Ah, Miss Hale, I forgot that you were-” The professor started but Cora shut him up immediately. “It shouldn’t matter if I’m here or not, that is precisely the class of racist comments that make it difficult for werewolves to be accepted fully into society. Werewolves are not born out of dark magic, and I though Auror Potter had been campaigning greatly against the discrimination and labelling of werewolves, considering his own godson is a werewolf who until very recently still attended this school.” 

“With all due respect, Miss Hale I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in my classroom.” The professor told her in a stern voice, but honestly it’s not like it would have matter anyway.

“Well don’t worry because you won’t have too.” Cora picked her book up and stormed out of the classroom. Lydia and Stiles shared a look before standing up and chasing after her.

They left no more than a few seconds after her but when they got to the hallway Cora was no where to be found. That girl was _fast._ “Where do you think she went?” Stiles ask Lydia. “She probably went back to the common room.” Lydia said. “You should check up on her and please let me know if she’s ok.”

“Don’t be silly, Lyds, you’re coming with me. You’re her best friend.” Stiles grabbed her arm and tugged her in the direction of the Slytherin common room. “But-”

“No buts, come on let’s go.” 

When they arrived at the common room Lydia let out a soft _wow_. “I know it’s great right?” Stiles told her. Cora wasn’t in the common area which meant she had to be in the dorm room. That might be a problem. 

“I don’t think I can go up to her room.” Stiles said aloud. “Well what’s the worst that can happen?” Lydia told him. 

“I could die?” Stiles said.

“Yes Stiles, the appropriate punishment for going into the girls room is death. C’mon I think Laura said the stairs just turn into slides, but you can at least try.” Stiles did try, he took one step and then another and another and nothing happened so the two of the went all the way up and gently knocked on the door to the first year dormitories.

“Go away.” Came a muffled sound from the other side of the door. Stiles ignored it and poked his head in. The room was pretty much identical to his but a lot tidier. “Come on Coco we’re skipping class to be with you, the least you could do is let us in?” Stiles tried.

Cora pulled the covers down a bit and nodded. Stiles opened the door a bit more and he and Lydia walked in. They sat down on the bed, Lydia next to Cora, wrapping an arm around her and Stiles by their feet. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Lydia asked, but Cora shook her head and turned to Stiles. “You must have a lot of questions.” She said softly. Stiles chuckled a bit, “What? About you and your family being werewolves? Nah I figured it out the first week, but I do want you to know that it doesn’t matter and I love you just the same.” Cora looked a little bit shocked.

“You’ve known me for a month.” She replied. “Yeah, but I read a lot and after what Kate said at dinner that first night, I went to the library to consult some books about magical creatures. You eat a lot, you’re really strong for someone so tiny, you’re incredibly fast and I’m not sure you noticed but your eyes flash yellow when you’re annoyed at me.” They all stayed silent for a moment until Lydia spoke up. “Wait, who’s Kate and what did she say?”

Cora groaned. “She’s an Argent and a Slytherin prefect. She called me a mongrel. Pretty unoriginal if you ask me. She had so many dog related jokes to work with and she went for mongrel” 

“Did you tell Laura?” Lydia asked annoyed. “No, and aren’t telling her either, If you tell her she’s going to actually punch Kate and she’ll be expelled.” Cora told her sternly sitting up a bit, she turned to Stiles with a softer voice, “You really don’t have a problem with me?”

“Cora, I promise you I do not care if you’re a werewolf, or goblin or vampire. I care that you are my friend. And I care that you are obviously upset right now.” He told her and Cora threw herself into his arms for a hug. “I’m okay, I promise. I love you too Stiles you know that?”. 

“Of course I know that, Coco,” Stiles told her, but after a moment, “Can you turn into an actual wolf?” He asked her jokingly. She slapped his arm but answered anyway, “Not yet, my mum can and Laura managed to shift fully during the summer, but Derek and I are still too young. Not all werewolves can do it though, but most people in our family can.”

“Are there any other werewolves in Hogwarts?” Stiles asked. “Yeah, quite a few actually. Erica, you know her, she’s actually really good friends with Derek, and their other friend Boyd, he’s also a second year but he’s in Gryffindor, I’m sure you’ll meet him soon enough. My cousin Malia, oh and the twins? I can’t remember their names, but they are werewolves too, though they aren’t in our pack..” Cora told him.

Stiles had so many other questions, but he didn’t think this was the right time to bring them up. Instead he spent the rest of the class time talking about nonsense, Cora asked how he was able to get up to the girls’ room seeing as Jackson had tried it on the first week and the staircase turned into a slide. “Maybe the staircase knew I was only trying to help?” He answered. They laid on Cora’s bed until it was time to head to lunch, they would’ve stayed there longer but Cora’s werewolf appetite got the best of her and they headed up to the Great Hall.

They were sitting down enjoying their pasties when Muder Brows Derek showed up at their table. “Cora we need to talk.” He said in his usual, or at least Stiles assumed it was usual, angry voice™. “Der can this wait? This is a really good pastie and Stiles is telling me all about this Batman person. Apparently he dresses up like a bat and fights crime.” Cora told her brother in between bites. “Catwoman is so much cooler Cora, you really shouldn’t let Stiles influence you like that.” Erica chimed in. Stiles was going to argue with her for the third time that day, when Derek just let out an exasperated huff “Cora, now.”

“Oh come on dude, don’t be such a sourwolf. Sit down, enjoy the food.” Stiles said but Derek just froze. Erica paused mid bite and stared at Stiles questioningly. “You know.” It wasn’t a question, Derek was incapable of phrasing anything like a question, but Stiles answered him anyways. “Yup. I have for a long time now buddy, and I haven’t run yet wolf boy so you might as well sit down.” The smile Erica gave him could light up a thousand Christmas trees, and Stiles smiled back at her.

Derek sat down next to Stiles, begrudgingly, “I heard you left your D.A.D.A class and I wanted to make sure you were alright.” He told Cora. _Oh, he had a heart. Well of course he had a heart this was his sister, it was just Stiles he hated. Not that he cared._

Cora smiled at him. “Don’t worry Der-Bear I’m alright, Lyds and Stiles kept me company. Also I think I might have detention? I didn’t really stick around long enough to hear.” Derek chuckled and Stiles was a little bit startled at the sound. It was soft almost music-like.

“How did you hear about it Derek?” Lydia asked him. Derek’s cheeks went a little pink. “How did I hear about what?” He deflected.

“Don’t be cute, it doesn’t suit you” Lydia said. _Stiles strongly disagreed but no one had to know._ “I heard Jackson telling Danny that you three had stormed out of class after Cora yelled at the teacher, I wasn’t sure what to think, so I just came over to make sure you were ok.” He told them. Cora smiled at her brother.

Derek stayed silent for a moment before turning to Stiles, “I heard you were having trouble with flying, I made the quidditch team this year, so I could help you, if you want.” Derek looked kind of pained when he said it, and Stiles wasn’t sure what he wanted but Cora and Erica were very intently _not_ looking at them and smiling. “Are you going to try to kill me? Cause if you are there are much easier ways to do it than throwing me of a broom one hundred feet in the air.” Stiles answered but he immediately regretted it when Derek’s face fell. “Forget it, I shouldn’t have-” Derek started getting up but Stiles grabbed his arm and gently tugged him back down. “No, no, stay? I actually really do need the help. I- Thank you,” Derek smiled at him and sat back down. “How does six sound? I have practice every day from half past four to half past five.” Derek proposed. “It sound perfect, when do you want to start?” Derek smiled, a real smile, “How about today?” Stiles took a sip of his drink before answering “Sure, it sounds good to me!”, and the bell singling the end of lunch rang. Students started flittering out of the hall, and Derek gave Stiles a small smile before leaving to go to class.

“We might as well just skip the rest of the day and finish mapping the fifth floor:” Stiles suggested, he mainly wanted to get out of having to go to flying lessons, but they had also started mapping out all the floors on the castle with all the best hiding spots. They had covered the Dungeons, First and Second floors and had started mapping out the fifth floor the week before, and they still hadn’t finished.

“I have transfiguration and then flying,”Lydia argued. “I know for a fact you’re pulling top marks in transfiguration and no one here believes you actually want to go to flying lessons.” Stiles said. Cora wasn’t really in the mood for lessons either so she sided with Stiles and eventually Lydia gave in, she really wasn’t that bothered with missing her flying lesson.

“Hey where are we anyways? I thought the Astronomy tower was on the left?” Cora asked, it the castle still felt huge and she felt like they had been walking for ages. “We are, it’s on the fifth floor, we just have to cross this corridor.” Lydia explained she had taken the long way round she hadn’t wanted Stiles to know where the entrance of the Ravenclaw Tower was. “It’s like you don’t trust me!” Stiles exclaimed. “I don’t trust you to not break in just to see if you can.” Lydia told him. _She had a point, he was definitely going to try it._ He had already figured out that the Gryffindor Common Room was on the seventh floor, he wasn’t t exactly sure where but her wasn’t stupid enough to break in. He knew the Gryffindors didn’t like him that much. The Ravenclaws on the other hand loved him, especially Laura, so he was definitely breaking in there at some point. 

“He look guys, this is one ugly looking statue.” Stiles pointed to a grey statue of an old man with a pointed hat. “It says _Gregory the Smarmy,_ who was that?” Cora asked. “I don’t know” Lydia said at the same Stiles said “Not a clue”. 

They were about to continue forward when Cora spotted something behind the statue. “Hey guys look, I think it’s a secret passage!” She said. Lydia and Stiles joined her behind the statue, “Where do you reckon it leads?” Lydia asked. “Well there is only one way to find out.” Stiles said and walked inside. Cora and Lydia did not think this was a good idea but followed him anyways.

“ _Lumos”_ Stiles muttered and a bright light emerged from the tip of his wand, Lydia and Cora did the same. 

“Where do think this leads?” Lydia asked again, leaning away from the cobwebs that had formed around the walls.

“I think it’ll lead to the other side of the castle? Maybe near the lake?” Cora wondered, “Stiles?” 

“I’m not sure, may the dungeons? I feel like all passage ways lead to the dungeons” He said, “What about you Lydia?”

“I heard there was a secret passage way to the kitchens, maybe its this one?” She said. “Oh yeah, we still haven’t found the kitchens” Stiles said dejectedly. He was really looking forward to finding the kitchens, maybe then he would be able to sneak in for some midnight snacks.

“Guys maybe we should go back we’ve been walking a really long time and we don’t even know where this is going” Cora said. They really had been walking a long time, Stiles pulled out the pocket watch his dad had given him before he left. “Uh, we’ve been walking for about an hour and a half, we’re probably over half way already.” 

“Yeah, but if we don’t turn back now Stiles is going to miss his date with Derek.” Cora insisted. “I can’t miss something that isn’t happening Cora. And I’m going to miss the tutoring session with Derek either way so we might as well make it worth it. I’ll explain tomorrow.” Stiles told her.

Lydia stopped for a second before speaking, “I mean if we go back we won’t find out where this leads, we’ve already come all this way, we might as well just go all the way.” Stiles agreed with her and said as much, Cora just grunted, but kept walking with them. 

It was almost half an hour later when Cora spotted the door, “Look guys, there’s a door over there, it’s time to figure out who won.” Stiles laughed, “Coco, we’ve been walking for two hours, I don’t think we’re _in Hogwarts_ any more, we all lost.”

Lydia stepped in front of them and pushed the large wooden door, but it wouldn’t budge. She tried again to no avail, Stiles stepped in front, “Let me try.” He said, but his attempt was just as futile as Lydia’s. “Move over, let the pro’s do it.” Cora laughed and pushed both of them aside. It didn’t even look like she pushed that hard, but she managed to break the door off it’s hinges. Perks of having a werewolf friend. The three of them stepped out of the passageway and Cora just put the door back like it was nothings before turning back to her friends.

“I know where we are, this is Hogsmeade Village!” Cora exclaimed, “Laura talks about it all the time, look that’s the train station were we were dropped off! Merlin’s beard, let’s go to Honeydukes, I’m starving.”

“Cora wait we are kids and I’m pretty sure they are going to notice we are not at least thirteen and it isn’t the weekend, we aren’t allowed to be here. I’m not sure we should be out exploring right now.” Stiles tried to reason with her.

“Oh no way, bat boy, I’m starving and there’s no way they’re going to let three eleven year olds into a pub on a school night. We’re breaking into Honeydukes.” Cora marched off in a desperate search for food. “Cora wait,” Lydia grabbed her arm “I’ve been working on the Confundus Charm, it’s not very powerful yet but it might be enough to confuse them enough to sell things to us.” She explained. _She really was the brightest witch in the school._

“We’re going to charm people into selling to us? I’m pretty sure that’s illegal. You do know my dad is the head of Scotland Yard? The muggle police?” Stiles asked Lydia. She smiled at him, “Her dad is the head of Magical Law Enforcement, also her mum is the final word on wizard punishments, I’ll think we’ll be fine. Let’s go bat boy.” 

“It’s bat _man_ ” Stiles corrected but he doubted they would actually care.

Honeydukes it turns out was not a food shop but a sweet shop, Stiles was suddenly not feeling that guilty anymore. Lydia had charmed the entrance lady and they were soon inside packing their pockets with as many treats as they could carry. 

“Guys is Bat’s Blood Soup made from actual bat blood?” Stiles asked them looking a little disgusted at the dark red syrup sitting at the front of the store. “No, of course not. You’ve never had wizard candy before, right? Um try Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, some Fizzing Whizzbees, oh oh Liquorice Wands, bring some No-Melt Ice cream for later as well, try Tooth-Splintering Strongmints, and some Acid pops. Wait don’t forget some Chocolate Frogs I know you’ll love those.” Cora was just taking things of the shelf and placing the in Stiles’s arms. His father had given him some money for emergencies and this definitely counted as an emergency.

Once they were satisfied with the amount of sweets they had, Cora went to the counter and paid for everything. “Dude, I have money I can pay for my stuff you know?” Stiles said. “I know, but you guys were cheering me up and it’s the least I can do!” Cora responded. Lydia didn’t even try to argue, she just grabbed her stuff and walked out the door. Stiles thought about arguing more but thought better of it and followed Lydia outside, Cora right behind him.

“Where do you want to go next?” Stiles asked.

“Oh can we stop by Spintwitches Sporting Needs?, Derek said he left his arm guards at home and he hates the school ones” Cora told them.

It was a nice little shop full of quidditch related items, Cora bought the arm guards for Derek and a Montrose Magpies Jersey for herself. Lydia didn’t really seem all that interested in quidditch but tagged along. Stiles saw the little house flags and grabbed a Slytherin one so he could cheer for his house when the matches started. On a whim he also grabbed a Hufflepuff one, _definitely not to cheer for Derek,_ and took both of them to the counter to pay. He expected Cora to laugh at him but she didn’t say a word.

“Guys it’s getting late, it’s almost six. We should get back.” Lydia suggested. Stiles and Cora looked unconvinced. “Let’s go to Scrivenshaft’s real quick and then we can go.” Cora said. “Why do you even need quills?” Lydia asked her. “I don’t need quills, I ran out of rainbow ink, and I need some more.” Cora told her. Stiles was in between them, on one hand it was getting late and the longer they stayed the greater the chances of getting caught. On the other hand, magic shop he hadn’t visited before. “Fine, we buy the ink and we go back.” Lydia said and Cora squealed. It shouldn’t have taken more than fifteen minutes but I was almost an hour later when the three of them exited the shop with Cora’s rainbow ink, as well as one for Stiles, and Lydia had seen a bottle of disappearing ink, and after much arguing they decided to buy one each ink case they needed to pass notes in class.

They had almost reached the entrance at the back of the statue, “Stiles, what time is it?” Cora asked him. “Um, nine o’ two. It’s after curfew.” Stiles informed them. “Ok, wait a second we need a plan” Lydia said and pulled the hand drawn maps from her robes, “We need to hide everything in case we get caught, we can say we were just exploring, but if the see any thing else we will be expelled for leaving the castle.” Stiles let out a small whine and Cora put on a serious face. “We are going to exit here, there are always prefects wandering around this corridor, but if we wait, we just have to cross through here to the Ravenclaw tower. From there you guys take the back staircase all the way down to the ground floor, cross this hallway and you’ll take the hidden staircase to the Slytherin common room. Whatever happens no one say anything, is that clear?” Lydia told them. It was a solid plan and Stiles and Cora nodded. 

They came out of the statue and kneeled, there was a Ravenclaw prefect at the end of the hallway and they waited until he turned the corner to run in the opposite direction. Lydia saw the tower and sighed, they had made it. Almost. “Where the _hell_ have you been?” Laura screeched. _Oh no, he’d rather take his chances with McGonagall than with Laura, at least McGonagall wouldn’t hit him_. The three of them froze and slowly turned around to see Laura with the angriest expression ever. “Walk” she commanded and steered them up two flights of stairs in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room. “Tear one off and scratch my head, what once was red is black instead.” The Eagle said. “A match” Laura answered immediately and the door swung open, letting all four of them inside. She led them into the common area, it was beautiful. The ceiling had been painted to look like the night sky, the room was circular but there were five nooks in the wall with bookcases filled with book and a divan in each one, Laura led them to an empty one and told them to sit down.

“Do you know how worried we’ve been, no one has seen you since lunch, you missed all your afternoon classes, Derek said him and Stiles were supposed to be meeting at six and he never showed and then you didn’t go to dinner. You didn’t tell anyone where you were going or even that you had left. Where were you?” Laura practically screamed.

“I’m sorry, we went to the library and we got to distracted and lost track of time.” Cora told her convincingly, and if Stiles didn’t know the truth he might have believed her.

“Do I look like an idiot Cora? I checked the library, and the Astronomy Tower, and the Owlery, and the Courtyard and the North and West Towers. Derek checked the Quidditch Pitch, the Lake, the kitchens, the Trophy Room and the greenhouses. Erica said you weren’t in the Slytherin common room and I bet if I asked Boyd he would assure me you weren’t with the Gryffindors so try again.” Ok so back to plan A. Don’t say a word. _Wait Derek knew were the kitchens were? Maybe he could convince Derek to tell him_ “Well?” Laura asked, but the three of them just stared forward, they weren’t going to break. “Are you serious, right now? You’re just not going to talk?” She was furious, “Ok, the I’ll just write to mum then maybe you’ll tell her?” Cora twitched but didn’t give in. Laura sighed,“I promise you’re not going to be in trouble, just tell me where you were?” She tried a little softer. _Ha, they weren’t going to fall for that_ , “Ugh, guys seriouslyyou can’t just-” Laura’s speech was interrupted by a bottle of disappearing ink falling from Lydia’s robes. They winced, they were screwed. Laura picked the bottle up, “Empty your pockets.” Neither of them moved so Laura waved her wand and the contents of their robes came spilling out onto the floor. Neatly lined in front of them were the exceedingly large amount of sweets they bought, Derek’s new arm guards, Cora’s jersey, Stiles’s flags, five bottles of ink, and their very detailed but incomplete map of Hogwarts. Laura looked stunned. She picked up a bag of Fizzing Whizbees, and Stiles could see the wheels turning in her head. “Did you guys go to Hogsmeade? How did you even get there, it’s like an hour and a half away? How did you even manage to leave the castle?” To say she was outraged was an understatement. She kept pacing the small alcove back and forwards before she stopped “Where you in Hogsmeade Village?” She asked one last time and Stiles could see she was about to kill them, so he answered. “Yes” Cora and Lydia glared at him, but hey it wasn’t like she didn’t know already this might prevent them from getting murdered by Laura. “And how did you get there, Stiles?” She asked him. “I believe I have the right to remain silent.” Stiles answered. Wrong move because suddenly Laura was smiling. “Yes, you do have the right to remain silent, and I have the right to give you detention. So you either tell me how you got there or I’ll give you detention.”

“I think we’ll take detention, please.” Stiles said, Cora snorted, Lydia rolled her eyes and Laura looked like she was seriously considering punching him in the face. “Do realise that what you did was stupid and dangerous? What if you had gotten lost? What if mum found out? What if she had come all the way here just to find out you sneaked out of the castle for fun? Cora I expected better from you.” Cora looked down at that, but Stiles answered for her. “In her defence it was my idea.” 

“Of course it was.” Laura sighed, “Get your things, Lydia go up to your room, you two, I’m escorting you back to your common room, let’s go.” They grabbed their stuff from the floor, but when Cora tried to take the Fizzing Whizbees back, Laura snatched them out of her hand. “No, these are for me. In exchange for not telling mum.” She put them inside her robes, oh well everyone had a price.

“Yeah that’s fair” Cora said softly, her and Stiles turned to leave, but Laura stopped them. “The three of you have detention on Friday.” She told them. “Wait you were serious?” Cora exclaimed. “Of course, unless you want to tell me how you managed to slip out of the castle undetected?” The three of them shook their heads. “That’s what I thought, then you’ll probably be shining trophies or helping Hagrid out in the Dark Forest, on Friday.” They nodded and Lydia headed up the stairs. Laura, true to her word, walked them all the way to the Slytherin entrance, and waited until they were inside before leaving. “I’ll be keeping a much closer eye on you from now on.”

When they closed the door, Cora let a out shaky breath. “We actually got away with that, I can’t believe it” she said. “Well we do have detention now, which I’m probably going to have to tell my dad about, so that’s going to be fun.” Stiles said. “Yeah, but Stiles I can’t believe we did that. Oh Merlin, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.” Cora told him. “Well that probably has more to do with the five boxes of Salt Water Taffy you ate on the way back. Go to bed Coco, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Stiles went up to his room, it was almost eleven, Laura had kept them for almost over an hour. The rest of his roommates were already asleep, so Stiles took his shoes of in the hallway and tiptoed to his bed. He emptied out the contents of his robes into his trunk. He definitely had to keep his sweet stash a secret or it was getting stolen, he grabbed the Hufflepuff flag and twirled it around his fingers, and he wondered if Derek would forgive him for missing their flying appointment, he felt like they maybe had a shot a being friends but Stiles had ruined it. He folded the flag and put it inside a book, which he then hid at the bottom of the trunk. He quickly changed into his pyjamas and went to bed. Derek still plaguing his thoughts as he drifted off to sleep.


	5. Quidditch and Detention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for taking so long, my kittens were sick and I had to take them to the vet. I also had a couple of exams over the week and I really don't want to fail the semester. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think.

The next morning when Stiles met Cora downstairs she had the arm guards in her hand, so he wasn’t the only one resorting to bribery. Stiles showed her the chocolate frog he had in his hand. “Those are his favourites, you’ll be fine.” She said and they headed up to meet Lydia and go to breakfast. They bypassed their usual spot at the Slytherin table and instead sat down next to Derek at the Hufflepuff table who was doing an excellent job at ignoring them and talking to a curly haired boy in front of him.

“Hey Cora, Lydia. Hello, I’m Isaac, you must be Stiles” The curly boy said, it made sense that he knew Cora and Lydia if he was friends with Derek, but why would he know Stiles? “Hi, yes. Nice to meet you.” Stiles said as he sat down next to Derek, Lydia had taken the spot in front of him and next to Isaac and Cora was on Derek’s other side.

“Here you go big bro, I thought you might like these!” Cora said handing over the new arm guards. “Where did you even get these?” Derek eyed her suspiciously. “I asked mum to send them to me.” Cora told him. “I’ve been asking mum to send me mine for weeks, she still hasn’t gotten around to it and she just happened to send you new ones?” Derek asked. “I guess she just likes me more.” Cora said and piled her plate with as much food as possible, Stiles was pretty sure Derek wasn’t stupid and didn’t believe Cora for a second, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and instead he pocketed the arm guards.

Stiles started putting food on his plate, but nudged Derek’s foot with his own. No response. He tried again, and still Derek didn’t acknowledge him. He tried a third time, but when Derek didn’t respond he gave up. He took the Chocolate Frog from his pocket along with a note he’d written with his new rainbow ink that read _I’m sorry,_ and slid it towards Derek. Derek looked down at it and then back up at Stiles. He just nodded in encouragement and Derek picked up the note. He smiled a little at Stiles and took the Chocolate Frog, he didn’t try to make conversation with Stiles but he did nudge his foot, so Stiles took it as a win and continued to play footsie with Derek all through breakfast.

When the bell rang singling the end of breakfast, Stiles grabbed onto Derek’s arm and pulled him in a bit before he was able to escape, “I’m really sorry I ditched you yesterday, and I totally understand if you never want to see me again, but do you think we can still do the tutoring thing?” Stiles asked him. “Of course, I’ll meet you on the Quidditch pitch at six thirty.” Derek responded with a small smile and turned away to head to his class.

-

For some reason Stiles couldn’t concentrate properly during his classes, fortunately he was eons ahead of his classmates so when Professor Flitwick asked him to demonstrate the levitation charm, he did so with ease, much to the annoyance of his classmates, Lydia and Cora just smirked. 

The three of them were heading out of their History of Magic class, the last one of the day, when Stiles asked them, “Do you think they’ll mind if we watch the Quidditch practice?” Cora smirked. “Teams don’t usually allow other students to sit in on practices, especially when it comes to other houses, but they might make an exception for us, just this once. Why Stiles do you want to watch my brother play?” Stiles choked, “Absolutely not, I just want to learn about the sport, it might come up on our written flying test and I don’t want to fail.” The was the stupidest excuse he could have come up with, but apparently it hadn’t even occurred to Lydia that Quidditch might actually come up on the exam, so she ended up being the one to lead the way down to the pitch.

“Hey Parrish, do you mind if we stay and watch? These two want to learn a little bit about Quidditch and I thought, ‘Hey what better way than by watching the best team in Hogwarts practice’” Cora yelled when they made it to the pitch, she could have waited until they were closer and not have embarrassed Stiles in front of every single person there, but then that wouldn’t have been very Cora-like. Everyone on the team turned around to look at them, including Derek. “Flattery will get you everywhere Little Hale, I fear the day you’re old enough to play, Slytherin might actually have a chance at winning with you on the team.” Said a guy around sixteen, who Stiles assumed was Parish. “You’re welcome to stay, just be careful.”

The three of them sat down on the grass with Cora in the middle. “Ok, there are seven people on a team. Three Chasers, that’s Isaac, number 14, Liam, number 09 and Derek, number 24, two Beaters, that’s Talbot, number 28 and Raeken, number 95, one Keeper, that’s Diaz, 19 and one Seeker, that’s Jordan, he’s number 10.” Cora explained. “There are three kinds of balls, the Quaffle is the biggest one, that’s the one Derek’s holding, oh he threw it to Liam, the goal is to throw that into one of the hoops. The Keeper is in charge of not letting the other team score. The other two that are moving on their own, you see them? Those are called Bludgers. You see how Talbot and Raeken have bats? That’s because the Bludgers will try and hit anyone and everyone, so they go around protecting the players with the bat, some beaters aim to take other teams down with the Bludger, it’s legal but frowned upon. The final ball is the Snitch, it’s tiny, once they finish I’ll tell Jordan to let you guys see it. The Seeker is in charge of looking for the snitch, once he catches it, the game’s over and the team that catches it gets awarded 150 points.” 

Stiles had already heard all of this during the summer from Scott but it gave him the opportunity to watch the game better so he didn’t say anything. “Each time the chasers throw the Quaffle through the hoops, they score ten points. Usually who ever grabs the Snitch wins the game, but sometimes even if you catch the Snitch, the other team wins.” Cora continued explaining, it mainly just depends on the score.

Stiles just kept looking up, sports weren’t really his thing, but somehow the blur of black and yellow swirling through the sky fascinated him. _How did they manage to stay on the broom when doing all those acrobatics? Didn’t it hurt? How far up could a broom go? How fast?_ The time seemed to fly because soon enough practice had ended and Derek was walking towards them. His face was covered in a thin layer of sweat and his cheeks were pink and splotchy. 

“Hey, um can you give me a few minutes to clean up? I’ll be right back.” Derek waiting until Stiles nodded before walking away to where Stiles assumed the changing rooms were. Cora and Lydia smiled at him. “Well, we’ll be off then. Have fuuuun!” Cora said. “We’ll see you at dinner Stiles” Lydia smiled and the both of them left with their arms linked. Stiles hated them. No he didn’t. The rest of the Hufflepuff team left without so much as a second look at him, except for Isaac, who gave him a small smile when he walked passed Stiles, he returned it.

Stiles sat down and was pulling out grass when Derek walked towards him, looking a lot better than when he finished practice, with a broom and a helmet. He wasn’t wearing a helmet before. “Ok, what exactly are you having trouble with?” He asked Stiles. “Everything. Well no, I’m doing great with the theory, just everything that isn’t theory. I can’t even make the broom come to me when I ask.”

Derek didn’t laugh at him like he expected, instead he placed the broom on the floor and placed the helmet beside it. “Ok, how about we start with that. Stand here on the left and put your right arm above it, and summon.” Derek gestured to Stiles to do as he was told. Stiles did exactly that and the broom refused to move. “Mmm, move your arm like this, yes perfect, and when you say up say it with confidence, you’re asking the broom and it won’t ever come up to you.” Derek stood behind him and moved his arm, whispering right next to his ear. Derek stepped away and Stiles tried one more time. “Up” He said sounding much more confident than he felt. To his surprise the broom flew right towards his hand and Derek smiled at him.

“Oh my god, I did it, Derek I did it!” Stiles jumped up and down. “Perfect, now let’s see how well you can fly.” Derek picked up the helmet and placed it on Stiles’ head. “Why am I wearing this?” Stiles asked feeling just a tiny bit stupid. “Cora said you were afraid to fly, I figured if you had protective gear you might feel a little safer.” That actually made sense but still. Derek was adjusting the strap around Stiles’s chin when he asked. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot” Stiles said. “Where were you, yesterday?” Oh, he wasn’t expecting that. “Um well, I can’t really tell you? I’m sorry I made a promise, and Laura’s already given us detention for not telling her, so I really, really can’t tell you. But I can promise you that your sister was absolutely safe, mostly.” Yeah ok so he didn’t betray them but he also felt really bad about lying, but it seemed to be enough for Derek.

“Laura gave you detention? What is she making you do?” Derek asked. “I think she said something about helping Hagrid in the Dark Forest or something? It seems a little ironic, we have to be out of bed as punishment for being out of bed. Although to be fair she gave us detention for refusing to tell her how we managed it not exactly for not being in the common room.” Derek snorted at him but his face looked a little concerned. “Mount the broom, yes like that, now you’re going to push yourself of the ground and hover for a second, once you feel confident enough just lean forward and the broom will come down.” Derek instructed. 

Stiles stood there, looking forward and not kicking off. “Anytime soon would be great, we’ve only got half an hour until we have to be at dinner.” Derek told him smugly. Stiles looked down at his hands, “I’m scared” he muttered softly. Derek’s face softened, he got on the broom behind Stiles, making him startle. “Don’t worry, if anything happens I can take control ok?” Stiles nodded, still not feeling confident, Derek could tell because he then suggested, “What if I kick of so you can feel what it’s like for yourself? How does that sound?” 

“Yeah ok.” It was enough for Derek because the next moment Stiles felt his feet leave the ground, it was a few inches above, the overwhelming fear Stiles felt was suddenly being replaced with excitement. “Omg, we’re doing it, we’re flying. Can we move a bit?” Stiles asked Derek. “Sure.” The broom went a little further up and Derek made them give the Quidditch Pitch a few laps before taking them back down.

“That was the awesomest thing ever!” Stiles exclaimed when they were on the ground. Derek laughed a bit, “Maybe next time you can try to do it on your own.” Stiles beamed at Derek, he gave Derek back his helmet and together they walked to dinner.

-

The rest of the week passed in a similar fashion, Stiles would go watch the Hufflepuff practice, and Derek would help him with his flying. By Friday, he was able to take off and land all by himself, which was technically all that was required to pass the semester but Stiles refused to tell Derek in case he decided the lessons should stop after that.

Dinner was over Friday night and the trio headed down to Hagrid’s hut, Laura had decided that polishing trophies wasn’t a good enough punishment and instead they would have to help Hagrid find a plant that only grew in the Dark Forest and was only visible at night. Perfect. When they got there, they weren’t expecting to find Derek and Isaac there, and Stiles definitely didn’t think he’d see Scott there. 

“Oh baby bro, whatever are you doing here?” Cora asked with a grin the moment she saw Derek. “I’m older than you Cora, a year and a half older.” She laughed, “Yes but what are you _doing_ here you’ve never had detention. I’m pretty sure you’ve never even broken a rule before.” She said, Stiles snorted and tried to hide it with a cough. Derek glared. “Actually it was my fault? Apparently if you stir the bursting mushrooms counter clockwise into the cauldron it will most definitely explode.” Isaac informed them. “You both got detention, because Lahey blew up a cauldron?” Lydia asked. “Well no, I got detention for blowing up the cauldron, Derek got detention for defending me when Slughorn called me useless.” They all laughed except for Derek, who still looked like he was sucking on lemons.

“What about you McCall what did you do?” Cora asked, she was clearly enjoying this. Scott glared at her from a few feet away. “I didn’t hand in my Transfiguration homework twice in a row, McGonagall was pissed. What did you do? Bully some poor Hufflepuff?” He sneered. Jerk. “No, we snuck out of the castle you Dragon Boogie” Cora sneered right back. Luckily it didn’t escalate because Hagrid came out of his hut with four lanterns. “Ok, gather round children, gather round, this is the flower we are looking for.” He said handing out pictures of a beautiful white, star shaped flower. “We’re going to split up into teams, Cora and Lydia you will look in this part of the forest. Stiles you and Derek will look here, and Mr. McCall and Isaac you will look in this part. I will be around here, if any of you run into any trouble shoot red sparks, if you find the flower shoot green sparks. You all know how to shoot sparks?” They all nodded except for Scott who reluctantly admitted he couldn’t. “That’s ok I do,” Isaac said kindly. 

They all went they’re separate ways with the image of the flower and the map Hagrid had given them in tow. 

“So, dude, what’s it like being a werewolf? I would ask Cora but the only time she brought it up she was sad about Professor Hopkins, and I haven’t really known how to bring it up?” Stiles asked him when they were a see distance away from the rest. “Don’t call me dude, but if you have a question feel free to ask.” Derek told him.

“Ok, _Sourwolf_ , well Cora already told me that your family can turn into actual wolves, but not everyone?”

“Yes, most werewolves can only shift into what we call a beta shift, but some werewolves can turn into actual wolves, it depends on the bloodline. Only a few werewolf families can shift.”

“What does beta mean?” Stiles asked him.

“Oh um, the alpha is the leader of the group, there is one in every pack, in ours it’s my mum, then the betas are everyone else in the pack, so me, my sisters, my father, Erica, Boyd, everyone else. Finally you have the omegas, they’re alone, they don’t belong to a pack, they’re usually dangerous, we need pack to be able to stay in control. The beta shift, is what we turn into? At least most of us, we have fangs and claws. The full shift is when a werwolf can turn into a full wolf. It’s rare, even in our family, only my mum and Laura can, we don’t know if Cora or I will ever be able too.” Derek explained and for once in his life Stiles was quiet, processing.

“Can I see yours? Your shift I mean.” Stiles asked quietly, fully expected to get rejected. 

“Ok” Derek turned towards Stiles and held his breathe for a second before letting his shift take over. His fangs dropped down and claws popped from his finger nails. “Oh my God, you’re murder brows are gone.” Stiles said in awe, Derek opened his eyes and glared at him but it didn’t have the same effect with out the Murder Brows™. “My what?” 

“You know, your murder brows? I was convinced you were going to throw me into the train tracks that first day we met.” Derek looked like he wanted to argue but instead shifted back and kept walking. Stiles followed behind him.

“How does it work? How does someone become a werewolf?” Stiles said running a bit to keep up with Derek’s long strides.

“You are either born or bitten. I was born a werewolf, as were my sisters and my mother, my father used to be human but he took the bite. Only an alpha werewolf can turn you, but there are laws against turning people into werewolves without their consent, some people can die from the bite.” Derek explained. _Why would anyone want to become a werewolf._

“Being a werewolf isn’t a bad thing, Stiles. We’re faster and stronger than everyone else, plus we can heal a lot quicker than you can. People usually take the bite when their dying, if you’re dying and the you take the bite, chances are werewolf healing will kick in and you will heal.”

“Was your dad dying?” It wasn’t a good question, but he was curious.

“No, but he wanted it, plus he married one of the most influential werewolves in England.” Derek said like it was the obvious thing to do. 

“Oh, wait Lydia said your mum was one the final word in Wizard Law, what does she do?”

“Cora never told you?” Stiles shook his head. “Well, she works at the Ministry for Magic, she is sort of the Minister?” _What, Cora’s mother was the Minister for Magic, that’s why the Slytherins were so happy to have her. Why didn’t she ever tell him._

“She never told me, I wonder why she wouldn-” Stiles was cut of by Derek shutting him up. “Stiles, be quiet. I smell someone near by.”Derek had a hand up to stop Stiles from moving.

“What do you mean you smell someone, what does that even mean? Wait can you smell me?”

“Stiles seriously shut up, I think I smell another werewolf, but I can’t see him. Stay behind me.”Suddenly Derek was pushing him behind him, claws and fangs out, ready to pounce if needed. Derek tensed looking towards the left and started growling. Suddenly, from were Derek was looking, a blur with red eyes came charging towards them. Stiles felt himself being flung backwards and hitting a tree forcefully, in a blink of an eye Derek turned into a black wolf snarling at the other werewolf. 

The red eyed _thing_ looked a bit taken aback, but leapt towards Derek anyway, it’s claws piercing through his side, and Derek went limp. The werewolf was huge, his head was shaved but he still had very hairy sideburns. He turned towards Stiles and snarled. Stiles panicked and aimed his wand towards the beast. “ _Vermillious Tria.”_ A flash of red sparks jolted from his wand, he shot some more which was enough to spook the thing. Stiles shot more red sparks into the sky before rushing to Derek’s side. 

Derek was breathing heavily but he was breathing, a deep gash situated by his side. It was hard to see properly with all the fur and the general darkness of night. “ _Lumos”_ It was a lot worse than it had previously looked, Derek’s fur was glistening with the light of Stiles’ wand and he knew that Derek was vey likely to bleed out if Stiles didn’t do anything. He took his cloak of and wrapped it tightly around Derek hoping it would slow the bleeding down until someone got there. Derek let out a howl, “Derek can you move?” Derek let out another howl, but Stiles didn’t think that it was intended for him. No one was coming, if he didn’t act soon, Derek was going to die. Derek let out another howl and it didn’t take long for Stiles to see red sparks coming from somewhere north. _That’s were Scott and Isaac were._

“Derek, I’m really, really sorry. This is going to hurt a lot but I think Scott and Isaac are in trouble and we need to help them.” Derek gave him a small nod and closed his eyes, Stiles assumed he was bracing himself for the pain. Stiles muttered the hover charm and suddenly Derek was hovering over the floor, Stiles guided him as gently as he could through the Dark Forest in the direction of Scott and Isaac. He wasn’t sure how long he could hold this. He’d only learned the charm to annoy Cora when they were studying. He would make her hover away from the table as she yelled at him to stop being an ass. He’d never had to maintain it for more than a few minutes.

He kept going though, he could feel the strain of the magic, and he felt himself getting more and more light headed but he refused to leave Derek behind, no matter what, and he knew that Scott and Isaac were in trouble, so he kept going. The hold on the charm was slowly fading and he could hear Derek grunting every time he was a bit rough. It actually made Stiles feel better, if Derek was grunting then Derek was alive.

It was only fifteen minutes later, even though it felt like an eternity, that started to hear worried voices. “Stiles and Derek are still out there, we have to go find them.” He could hear Cora yelling, he wondered why she didn’t hear him coming, maybe she was to preoccupied with not knowing where they were, to notice that they were right there. He hoped she noticed soon because he was really about to pass out.

“Cora please calm down, Stiles has Derek and I’m pretty sure Derek can protect them both.” Lydia told her but she didn’t sound much calmer, Stiles could hair faint grunts of pain in the distance and Hagrid’s booming voice asking himself what to do. “Lydia I heard him howl, he sounded wounded, and I know Stiles sent up sparks, we should be out looking for them.” 

That was enough for Stiles to push the last few meters and come crashing into the the clearing where they were. From that moment every thing happened at the same time, Stiles gently put Derek down and heard Cora gasp and throw herself next to her brother, checking his side, Stiles cloak was no soaked in blood and Stiles was sure that it had done nothing to help Derek, but he had given it his best shot. Derek had told him he would heal faster that humans did but no he wasn’t sure Derek was telling the truth. 

Hagrid too panicked trying to figure out a way to carry both Isaac and Scott who were lying on the floor with blood pooling around Isaac’s neck and Scott’s middle, to even register that Stiles and Derek were just as badly injured. 

Stiles tried to run over to Scott but was pushed back by Lydia who let out a small “Merlin, Stiles stay still you’re bleeding.” He hadn’t realised he was, but now that he thought about it, something wet was running down his back. Lydia made him sit down but Stiles kept trying to reach his friend. 

“Are they ok? Is Scott ok?” Stiles managed to get past Lydia when she turned to see if Hagrid had any bandages, but was only able to take a few steps before he came tumbling down towards the floor losing consciousness. 


	6. The Hufflepuff break in

Stiles woke up in the hospital wing, he felt his head was on fire. He could hear noises whirling all around him but it was hard to make sense of anything. He tried opening his eyes but the lights were too bright, so he quickly shut them again and groaned.  
“He’s waking up, Madam Pomfrey, he’s waking up.” He heard Lydia call out, now that he thought about it, it was probably her hand that was clutching his tightly. He opened his eyes a lot slower this time, giving himself the chance to adjust to the light and saw Lydia’s worried face looking down at him. Cora’s face appeared into view a few seconds later, her face equally as worried, as she rushed towards his side, grabbing his other hand when she got to him.

“Give him some space, girls.” Madam Pomfrey tried shooing them away but they just stepped back and kept shooting worried glances towards Stiles. “How are you feeling Mr. Stilinski, you took quite the fall and to top it off you over exerted your magic!” Madam Pomfrey told him. “I feel fine, just a bit sore thanks.” 

“We’re going to have to keep you for another night or two tops, but you should be well enough to return to class on Monday” She said. Stiles felt the need to protest about having to stay longer but instead he nodded and turned to Cora.

“How’s Derek?” Stiles asked her. It was the first thing that came to mind. Cora was about to answer him when a voice came from behind the curtain and stopped her. Madam Pomfrey looked up, eyes wide as she shuffled away quickly.

“He’s doing very well, thanks to you.” A dark haired lady, came around towards Stiles’ bed. She gave Cora and Lydia a look and they both stepped away from his little makeshift room, it was just a bed with curtains for walls but hey he wasn’t complaining, but not before giving him an encouraging smile. “I hear you did a hover charm and hovered him almost a kilometre until you found help. That’s very impressive for a first year, even if your head wasn’t split open and you had a broken arm, those spells are usually not taught until the third year. I owe you my deepest gratitude for saving my son.” This must be Cora’s mum, she had dark brown hair and tanned skin, her face was dotted in tiny freckles. She looked a lot like Cora. Stiles looked down at his arm, it looked alright, if it had been broken it would’ve been in a cast.

“He saved me first. I thought he couldn’t turn into a wolf yet? I think we were attacked by another werewolf. Oh god, Scott and Isaac are they ok?” Stiles panicked and tried to get out of bed. Mrs. Hale gently held him down so he wouldn’t get up and hurt himself any further.

“Calm down, Stiles, they will be alright. They were both bitten by an alpha werewolf, but the bite took for both of them, they are still very new to this and the full moon is tonight, so I’m afraid you can’t see them until afterwards, for your safety as well as theirs. We’re meeting with Scott’s mum in an hour, your father is coming to Hogwarts as well, but you should be feeling a lot better by then.” Mrs. Hale told him, he was relieved to know his dad was coming to see him, but he was hoping he wasn’t going to be too worried. Mrs. Hale still hadn’t answered his question about Derek.

“How did Derek turn into a wolf?” He asked again, more directly. “Well, he felt the threat and something awoke within him, the urge to protect you helped him shift, he had a little difficulty shifting back, but he’s alright now.” She said. _Ok he was safe at least._

“Can I see him?” He was pretty sure, she was going to say no, but he could at least try.To is surprise Mrs. Hale smiled, “He was afraid you might not want to see him anymore, but I’ll tell him to stop by.” _Why would Stiles not want to see him anymore? Derek had literally saved his life, sort of, but still, he was starting to think of them as a team._

“Thank you Mrs. Hale.” _Should he call her Mrs. Hale? Should he have said Minister? Stiles wasn’t sure what the correct way of addressing the wizard equivalent of the Prime Minister was. Or maybe she was more like the queen, should he have said your majesty?_

“You can call me Talia, Stiles. I have a feeling I’m going to be seeing a lot more of you.” She laughed a bit. “I have to go, but I am certain I’m leaving you with good company.” Cora and Lydia poked their heads from behind the curtain again. Mrs. Hale patted his leg and left, Cora and Lydia sat down by his bed almost instantly.

“How are you feeling?” Lydia asked, pushing his hair away from his eyes. She had a soft expression on her face, and Stiles felt like he really worried her. “I’m alright guys, I promise.”

“You had us worried there Stiles, you came in covered in blood, Derek was unresponsive and also covered in blood, you were muttering things without making sense. And then you just dropped to the floor. I actually thought you were dead.” Cora was full on crying now.

“I’m sorry, I never meant to worry you, Coco.” It was true. “Laura feels really guilty, she feels like it’s her fault you got hurt.” Cora told him between tears. “Oh no, that’s not true, it’s our own fault for getting detention, and maybe the school’s for allowing dangerous punishments. What happened to good ol’ fashioned staying in silence for an hour after school.” He laughed a bit, but Cora and Lydia did not find it funny. Tough crowd.

“What’s going to happen with Scott and Isaac?” Stiles asked instead trying to change the subject. Lydia looked at Cora, she shrugged.

“Well Isaac already lives with us, he was already part of the pack, he’s just going to be a werewolf now, it’s no big deal. Scott, on the other hand, is being a little difficult, my mum offered him a place in the pack but he refused before she even had a chance to explain. She’s waiting for Mrs. McCall to get here before talking to him again.” Cora explained. _Of course Scott had a problem with the Hales. If Scott were still talking to him he might try and talk him out of his stupidity._

“Melissa is a lot more reasonable than Scott, don’t worry she’ll talk some sense into him. I guess they’re going to find out about Scott and I, ugh the only reason dad even let me come to this school is because he knew Scott was going to be here. He’s going to pull me out.” Stiles started panicking, he didn’t want to leave Hogwarts, he didn’t want to leave Cora and Lydia and Derek, he didn’t want to give up magic. _He was going to run away._

“You’re not going to run away Stiles” a voice said nearing his bed. Derek’s face suddenly came into view and a huge smile spread across Stiles’ face. “Hey! You’re ok!” Stiles exclaimed. Derek let out a small laugh, but walked closer to Stiles and sat down on the chair next to Cora.

“Yeah, thanks to you I hear. Thank you Stiles.” Derek said seriously. “Why did you think I wouldn’t want to see you anymore?” Stiles asked him softly.

Derek let out a breath, “I assumed after you saw the other werewolf and how it attacked you, you wouldn’t really want to see me anymore.” Derek told him. Cora hit him on the back of his head and glared. “So you just assumed he wouldn’t want to be friends with me either?” 

“What? No! Cora that is literally nowhere near close to what I said, he didn’t see you wolf out and you guys are friends, I’m sure Stiles would never abandon you.” Derek said rubbing his head. _He couldn’t_ ** _actually_** _believe that Stiles wouldn’t want to be friends with him anymore, could he?_

“I would never leave you Cora, or you Derek, we’re friends too. And yes I was scared but not of you, I very distinctly remember you throwing yourself in front of the werewolf to protect me, it would be a jerk move of me to stop talking to you after you almost died protecting me.” Stiles told them, Cora beamed at him but Derek looked at him like he’s never seen him before, Stiles couldn’t figure out what it meant. Lydia let out a small smile, “I think your dad is here.” She said just as Stiles’ dad appeared in his line of sight. “DAD!”

“We’ll let you get some time with your dad Stiles.” Derek said and rubbed his leg before the three of them got up to leave. “Get well soon, Stiles. Goodbye Mr. Stilinski.” Cora said before disappearing behind the curtain, John waved at her as she left.

“Hey kiddo, how are you feeling?” His dad asked him taking the seat Cora previously sat in. “I’m fine it’s barely a scratch.” He said, but the grimace on his dad’s face told him he didn’t believe a word that was coming out of his mouth. Rude but fair.

“Uh huh, so you didn’t fight a werewolf, split your head open, break an arm and pass out in the middle of the woods?” His dad asked. _Huh, at least they hadn’t told him about the detention._ “All because you and your friends decided to sneak off and skip class?” _Nevermind._

“In my defence, it wasn’t because we snuck out, it was because we didn’t tell them how we did it. So technically it wasn’t for skipping class, just being smart about it” He was not making this any better and he knew it, but he was in a pain and sarcasm was his first line of defence or well his only defence. His dad sighed. “You still got caught Stiles, not that you should even be sneaking out. Why were you and Scott even sneaking out in the first place?” He asked. _Oh no._ Stiles debated the pros and cons of lying vs telling the truth and decided to just come clean once and for all, he didn’t want to keep lying to his dad, he’d never really been good at keeping secrets from him either way.

“Actually, it was Cora, Lydia and me. Scott hasn’t really been talking to me since I got sorted into Slytherin. He says only bad wizards go to Slytherin.” Stiles told his father. He refused to look at his face, instead opting for playing with the blanket that was keeping him warm. “What do you mean? He tells Melissa about you all the time, he said you guys sit together in your shared classes, and you always mention him in your letters? Stiles look at me, son.” Stiles looked up at his dad, his eyes started tearing up, Stiles hadn’t allowed himself to mourn the loss of his friend, his brother, it wasn’t like Scott was dead, he was just acting like Stiles was and it hurt him so much more than he had allowed himself to admit before. It was the first time in over a month that Stiles let it sink in and he couldn’t help the tears that spilled out. 

“Oh Stiles.” His father sat down next to him and the bed and pulled his son into his arms. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Stiles kept crying, clutching his father’s shirt in his hands, John was rubbing his hand up and down his son’s back wondering when his kid, his happy, energetic, upbeat kid, became so sad.

When Stiles finally stopped sobbing he pulled away and rubbed his eyes, wiping away his tears. “It hurt a lot at first, but then Cora and Lydia came along, and they are the best people I could have ever met. I didn’t want you to think that because Scott was no longer talking to me, I had to go home. I’m happy here dad, I don’t want to go back to feeling weird, I fit in here and I don’t fit in in the muggle world.” 

“Son, I wouldn’t make you go back if that’s not what you wanted, just promise me you’ll stay away from werewolves from now on.” John said, hugging his kid again. “Um, well, about that. Cora and Derek are werewolves, and I think Scott and Isaac are too, now? The rogue werewolf was a one off dad, but werewolves aren’t inherently bad and I’m not going to stop being friends with Cora because she’s the most amazing person, so is Lydia but she’s human so it’s fine, and Derek is they only reason I can actually fly a broom now, which I never even thought I would be able to do.” Stiles rambled until his father made him stop.

“Stiles calm down, you don’t have to stop being friends with anyone. Don’t stress yourself out you need to rest, how about you tell me more about Cora and Lydia, and this Derek guy, I thought you said he wanted to murder you with his eyebrows? When did that change?” Stiles cheeks went a little red.

“Well he did? At least I thought he did, but then I was having a lot of trouble flying and Cora suggested I ask him for help and he offered so we’ve been hanging out almost everyday while he teaches me to fly. And it’s a good thing too, otherwise I would be totally failing flying lessons.”Stiles rambled, his dad gave him a strange look but smiled anyways. 

“I’m glad you’re not failing anything, especially your wizard PE. How about you tell me how you managed to sneak out of this castle? It was impossible just to even get here with the professors guiding us, let alone three eleven year olds on their own.” Stiles was hoping his dad would ask this, but oh well.

“Dad, I almost died in detention because I wouldn’t tell, if I tell you now I would have almost died in vain, and neither of us want that, do we?” Stiles’ dad let out a roaring laugh, it had been a long time since Stiles had heard it and suddenly his pain didn’t seem that bad anymore.

-

When Stiles woke up again not only was his dad sleeping soundly next to him, but Melissa was also there, she was looking down worriedly at him and stroking his hair. “Hey Stiles, how are you feeling?” She asked him.

“I’m ok, how’s Scott doing? Shouldn’t you be with him?” Stiles asked her right as John woke up and greeted Melissa. “The full moon went up a little while ago, and he’s a werewolf now. The told me has to learn to control his shift and it wouldn’t be helpful to have me there right now. I though I’d come to see how you were doing kid.” That made sense. She seemed to be taking her child getting turned into a werewolf pretty well, but he didn’t think Melissa would actually freak out in front of him. 

“How is he? Did he take Mrs. Hale’s offer to be in their pack? They’re good people Melissa, I think they can really help him.” Stiles told her earnestly.

“I’m sure they can, but Scott doesn’t seem to convinced about them, Mrs. Hale told us he can be on a trial, that way he can have a pack to fall back on and not have to make a decision right away, so he’s going to be spending time with them and learning all about it. Are you friends with them? Mrs. Hale mentioned you at the meeting.” Melissa informed him, he didn’t know if Scott had told her anything, and it wasn’t really his place to tell.

“Yeah, Cora she’s my best friend, she’s a Slytherin like me, and her brother Derek has been teaching me to fly, they have another sister Laura, she’s a fifth year and she’s pretty cool too, I only met Mrs. Hale today, but she’s gotta be awesome to raise up kids as cool as them right?” Stiles told her, Melissa smiled at him but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Well I’m glad Scott’s in good hands, but Stiles do you know why Scott doesn’t really like them? He was very insistent he didn’t want to have anything to do with them, but you seem to really like them.” 

“Well, I’m not really sure, he and Cora got into a fight on the first day and they just don’t get along since then, sorry Melissa.” He said.

“It’s ok Stiles, try to get some more rest sweetie. We will probably be going soon, but we love you very much, keep an eye on Scott for me?” Melissa asked him and he nodded looking at his dad, he leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead. “Don’t worry kid we’ll stay a little while longer” He whispered and Stiles tried really hard to stay awake but his body betrayed him and soon enough he was asleep.

-

Madam Pomfrey was true to her word and Stiles wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital wing until Sunday night, but Lydia and Cora took turns keeping him company all through out the day, they both brought him food in the morning and had breakfast together. “Guys, can I ask you something?” Stiles asked. Cora tensed a little but nodded. “Everyone keeps saying I broke my arm, but it doesn’t feel broken? It’s not even in a cast?” Cora let out a laugh, it was more of a snort in Stiles’ opinion but Cora would disagree. “That’s what you’re worried about? Madam Pomfrey gave you Skele-Gro, it’s a juice, it fixes your bones, it can be a little painful, but you were completely knocked out for most of it, so you’re fine.” Cora told him and continued to munch on her pumpkin pasty, they smuggled him one too, which was a hundred times better than anything Madam Pomfrey had given him so he was grateful.

To Stiles’ surprise even Derek showed up around mid day with some sweets he got from who knows where. “My mum brought them over when she came to check on your friend, I thought you might like something sweet.” Derek said as he handed him a chocolate frog. Stiles patted the bed and Derek sat down, Lydia was still sitting on the chair to his right and Cora on the left. 

“I think we’re going to have to take a break on the flying lessons for a while.” Stiles told Derek, who frowned. “Are you still in pain?” He asked.

“Um, no, I actually feel better than before.” Stiles responded. “Then we’re going to keep practicing or you’re never going to learn weaving.” Derek told him. “But we don’t need that until second year and only if I decide to keep taking the class!” Stiles said outraged but silently glad that Derek still wanted to see him everyday.

“Yeah, but this way you might actually have a chance at Quidditch tryouts next year.” Stiles snorted causing pumpkin juice to come out of his nose and sent him into a coughing fit. Derek patted him on the back with one hand and continued reading his book with the other. When he was finally able to talk Stiles asked, “Where did you get the idea I even wanted to try out for the team?” 

“You have to try out, our current team has three seventh years so there will be three spots open and I’m pretty sure everyone else sucks.” Cora told him. “Coco, darling, I suck.” Stiles said, earning himself a cuff to the back of his head from Cora. “Not if we keep practicing.” Derek said, putting an end to the conversation.

-

Time had passed by relatively fast at the hospital wing with his friends but Stiles was still bummed that Scott hadn’t tried to contact him even once. Stiles was at least going to attempt to keep his promise to Melissa and try and keep an eye on Scott however difficult he tried to make it.

So come Monday morning, Stiles told Cora that he wanted to sit with Scott that morning to see if maybe he would talk. “Your funeral” Cora told him but her and Lydia went to sit down at their usual spot. Stiles made his way towards the Gryffindor table earning himself a few sneers and odd looks, he located Scott pretty quickly, he was sitting next to the brunette girl he now knew was Allison, Stiles wasn’t even close when Scott looked up at him and walked away. He got up and left the Great Hall, Allison gave him an apologetic look before getting up and running after him. So much for talking, Stiles debated going after Scott but instead walked back to his usual spot at the Slytherin table and was happily surprised to see Derek there, as was Erica.

“He looked thrilled to see you.” Cora said around a mouthful of scrambled eggs. “Yeah, well I promised Melissa I would try, but I can’t force him to be my friend, I just want to know if he’s ok, you know?” Stiles replied, he started putting food on his plate but he wasn’t really hungry, he also wasn’t sure what he was going to do about Scott.

“I’m sure he’ll come around soon, Stiles.” Derek told him with a small smile, Stiles shrugged and kept eating. “Has your mum told you guys anything about the alpha?” Stiles asked them, in an attempt to change the subject.

“No, but she’s really angry, she’s had a hard time trying to get werewolves equal rights and this is just setting everyone back.” Cora answered him. “Yeah, she’s usually the definition of poise and rationality but she seemed off when I talked to her on Saturday, she was trying really hard to cover it up but I could tell she was furious.” Erica chimed in.

“Is there anything we can do to help? I mean I saw the alpha very clearly, I’m sure I can give her a sketch or describe him or something?” Stiles suggested. “That’s a good idea, I’ll be sure to let mum know.” Derek said, Lydia had been quiet for the entire time, it was very un-Lydia like. “Are you ok Lyds?” Stiles asked. 

“Yeah, I was just thinking, it’s very rare for an alpha werewolf to lose control like that, and Hogwarts is very well protected, how did he get in?” Lydia told them. _That’s a really good point, Hogwarts was one of the most highly guarded places in the United Kingdom, and there were no reported werewolves living inside the Dark Forest._

“Do you think someone _let_ him in?” Stiles asked her, Lydia shrugged. “Who would do that? _Why_ would they do that?” She answered. “We should investigate!” Cora whispered excitedly. 

“Cora no, Stiles and I almost died and Isaac and Scott were turned, we can’t risk meddling in things we aren’t prepared for. Let mum handle it.” Derek told her firmly. 

Stiles, Lydia and Cora looked at each other briefly before Cora answered, “You’re right Der-Bear, we’ll leave it alone.” _Oh they were definitely going to investigate._

“I mean it Cora.” He said again. “I _know_ Derek, I already said we were leaving it alone. What more do you want?” Cora replied. “Fine.” Derek said and stood up to go to class. They still had a few minutes left until the bell rang and none of them were particularly as pernickety with punctuality as Derek was, so they waited until he left.

It was Erica that spoke up first, “We’re definitely looking into this aren’t we?” Stiles nodded, “Yeah, but we have to be careful, Derek’s right we did almost get killed so we have to go in with a plan, and we have to make sure Derek never finds out.”

“We can meet in the Slytherin common room, that way Derek won’t find out.” Lydia suggested. “No, I don’t know why, but I have a a bad feeling about Kate we should do it somewhere were she can’t see what we’re up too.” Stiles said.

“Ok, so that’s the first thing on the list, find a meeting place and only us four can know about it.” Cora said. “I was thinking we could maybe tell Boyd about it?” Erica asked, “He can keep a secret and the more werewolves we have the better if we’re going up against and alfa.” She said.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, but make sure he doesn’t tell Derek anything.” Cora replied just as the bell rang. They all stood up and headed towards their classes, Cora and Stiles had potions so they made their way down to the dungeons. 

-

It wasn’t until the following week, when they had all failed to find a better hiding spot, that they decided to meet at the top of the Clock Tower on Wednesday after dinner but before curfew. 

\- 

That evening Wednesday Stiles arrived at their usual spot for dinner with a self satisfied smirk adorning his face and sat down between Lydia and Derek. It used to be shocking for the students at first but after months of Cora, Lydia, and Stiles sitting together, which had now turned into Cora, Lydia, Stiles, Erica, Boyd, Derek, and Isaac sitting together, the rest of the student body didn’t even bat an eye at them.

“Ugh Stiles what is that smell? Did you decide to go swimming in vinegar?” Lydia exclaimed in disgust, the werewolves were all wrinkling their nose, honestly it wasn’t that bad, they were just being babies about it. “Nope, I was actually mapping out the basement.” He replied. “Oh no.” Derek said, half worried, half resigned. “Oh yes, I found the kitchens by the way.” Derek let his head drop onto the table with a thump. Isaac had a knowing smirk on his face and the rest just looked confused.

“You know what else I found?” Stiles asked Derek, grin getting impossibly larger. “I hate you so much.” Derek told him with a glare, Isaac laughed. “We both know that’s not true Sourwolf.” Stiles said before turning back to the others. “I found a stack of barrels, neatly lined against the wall, and I was curious, so may have gone over to inspect them and in the process may have tried to use them as drums, but apparently they didn’t like it because next thing I know I’m covered in vinegar.”

Stiles turned back to Derek, “Now _Der-bear,_ why would there be a bunch of vinegar spitting barrels next to the kitchens?” He asked. Isaac snorted into his goblet trying to hide the fact that he knew, Derek had resumed eating his food, but answered anyways, “Maybe someone has a horrible sense of interior design?”

“Possibly, but _I_ think its the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, and believe me I’m going to figure out how to open it.” Stiles exclaimed,“What you’re not even going to try to deny it, or convince me it’s morally incorrect to enter other house common rooms without permission?” He asked Derek.

“Is anything I say going to convince you to refrain from breaking and entering into my common room?” Derek asked.

“No.”

“Then I’m just going to enjoy watching you get doused in vinegar for the rest of the year.” Derek said and the rest of the table laughed. 

“What if I just told you how to get in?” Isaac proposed. “Nooo, that takes half the fun away, I want to figure it out myself.” Stiles told him. “Of course you do, you weirdo.” Isaac told him softly, he knew he didn’t mean it in a bad way so Stiles smiled at him.

“Why do you even want to enter the Hufflepuff common room?” Boyd asked him. “Don’t wind him up” Lydia tried to warn him but it was too late.

“It’s not just the Hufflepuff common room, I have a plan to locate and enter all the common rooms, I know where the other three are, I found them pretty early on, but Hufflepuff I didn’t even know where to start looking.” Stiles told him.

“You’ve been in all the common rooms Batman?” Erica asked with a grin, oh she wanted the information, she probably had some prank forming in her head, he wasn’t going to give up the information easily, but she might be a great partner in crime when he wanted to mess with the others.

“I’ve been in the Ravenclaw common room and ours obviously. I know where Gryffindor’s is, but I’m not going in until I’ve at least figured stuff out with Scott, also I’m pretty sure if the Gryffindors saw me there, they’d get me expelled.” Stiles said.

“Not all Gryffindors are bad Stiles.” Boyd told him. “I know that, I just wish they knew the same about Slytherins. Last week, Donovan came into the common room crying because somethird year Gryffindor, Daehler, told him to get his purist ass out of the library or they would throw him out of the window. Donovan’s dad is a muggle, he’s literally the farthest thing from a purist there is. I know the war caused a lot of tension between everyone and Slytherin and I’m sure it was especially bad between Gryffindor and Slytherin but it has to stop, the only thing it’s accomplishing is more bullying.” Stiles said, he wasn’t sure if he could even change the way the other houses saw Slytherin but he sure was going to try.

“Maybe we could tell McGonagall, or Professor Longbottom? They might help.” Isaac suggested. “Do you think they don’t already know? If they actually wanted to do something about it they would. I think this is something that we need to figure out for ourselves.” Lydia told him.

“I think that maybe we already are.” Derek said softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry it took this long, I've had a little bit of a rough month but I hope you guys enjoyed it.


End file.
